Perishable Wings: Blood Stained Saint
by Ou-Rex
Summary: A requiem of ruin as nature continues to show man who is truly in charge. A kind-smile isn't enough to save the world from itself, so sometimes you have to raise your hand against it to make a change possible for the future to inherit.
1. Fairy Tale

**(A/N: Welcome guys! Introducing the Halloween Month Horror story: Part II to Perishable Wings. This story has been Beta'd by GrrDraxin to his props shall be deserved. If you read the first Perishable story, please remember this is a often gruesome and cruel fic, it is after all gorey horror so if you fail to remember that I ignore your review/complains and use it as fuel to my flame-fic: Paradox. Continuing on, enjoy, have a safe and fun Hallow's Eve and for others a Harvest Festival and all the other Harvest Season Holidays out there!)**

**Perishable Wings: Blood Stained Saint**

**Chapter 1: Fairy Tale**

With a year nearly passed since the events at Kamakura, Kanagawa were anything but in the past. The hanabake have become common place in the prefectural city and the horde of man eating plants have spread through the entire Kansai region, essentially cutting off the south central section of the island from all outside help. It has been reported that many people still seem to live in the prefecture, trapped off by the roving plants who have taken residence up in the open streets. Efforts the save those trapped have been all but thwarted by the man eating plants who have seem to have set up boundaries within the prefecture territories. The Kansai regions resources have been utterly crippled as even the man made island holding the Kansai International Airport has become a nest for these monstrous beasts. The island nation has sought help from its neighbors and Western Allies, but their choices are limited. Though there is no question that the beasts should be wiped out, there is also the problem that the solutions can bring which range from years of ecological damage to the possible spread of the beasts. For now there lies safety in leaving the beasts be for they seem to hold to the south central area and never move beyond it. Without a sample of a dead hanabake, no one could develop any sort of herbicide that only effects the inherent species of plant as the corpses of any hanabake found almost immediately decompose, leaving little data on their physiology. Not only has the hanabake presence crippled the Kansai region, but seeing as the Greater Tokyo Area was part of this regional territory, much of Nippon's economy has been struck by the overtaking of one of its central hubs. Being one of the most populated metropolitan areas in all of Japan, it became the perfect grounds for breeding hanabake. There are many who believe the main nest of the plant demons lies somewhere in the heart of Tokyo, Japan, but without proof or any means to enter the prefectures it is left up to speculation.

Within that year many people have regressed in their daily lives. No longer is electricity provided for the Kansai region and no longer does it receive supplies from other prefectures, leaving it isolated and forced to return to more archaic means of survival such as hunting wild game for meat and living off communal gardens. Unfortunately crime had become rampant and many gangs of survivors sought to steal rather than work for the food grown in the communities, at least until the hanabake intervened. Those caught or even accused of theft had been made examples of. Oft they would be found hung from lampposts with their entrails hanging from their disemboweled stomachs or the criminals would be captured in the middle of a community and seeded by the, by now, well known mother plant of the man eating beasts. She was nearly double the size of normal hanabake and her blood red coloration made it stand out from the smaller, green plant fiends. The blood red hanabake, called Akane by the people, would gut offenders and place her seeds into the individuals abdominal cavities where they would than be dragged off by the smaller plants where the body would incubate the seeds and create more hanabake. Many were in such fear that they would often sacrifice others to the demons if only to satiate the idea that they have sinned by the demon's eyes.

When faced with such extreme circumstances of survival it is not uncommon for man to revert to his most primitive state. Wants such as televisions, extravagant homes and especially money, are taken over by the needs of food, clothing and shelter. The uncontrollable terrors of the night are made into gods by the humans who hold a healthy fear of that which he cannot control. The one who controls these gods, is the highest kami above them all. The rumor quickly spreads into the other prefectures, that among the demon plants walks a man who can speak their language.

"Master Kiria." A tall, dark haired male called from the door of the man's office. It was late in the evening, and the early October. The 1st Division Headquarters of Fairy Tale, which occupied the Northern region of Hokkaido, Japan. The headquarters was centralized in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, located in the sub-prefecture of Ishikari. This time of year Sapporo sat in the throes of a mild winter.

The headquarters overlooked the red-light district of Sapporo: Susukino. It sits in the former "Emperor" building which once stood testament as a popular cabaret which was later closed and the building purchased by the Fairy Tail company where they built upon the city's ever popular disco clubs and run everything from the Hosui rail-line to the Susukino Snow Festival. The blaring neon lights that danced across the district flashed through the large, uncovered windows of Kiria's office. His large leather chair faced with its back to the door, his pale face mirroring the dancing flashes of red, green and yellow that highlighted the night skies.

Kiria did not offer recognition to the younger man. He was quite aware that Kiria was in one of his moods. With the constant, failed attempts to take control of the Kansai region via the Witch's Ranch, only for a pack of gone-wild demon plants to do what he has failed to via capitalization, well he was anything but pleased. The younger male removed the pair of wire-framed glasses from his squared face. Upon removing the glasses his high cheek bones and handsome features became more apparent. He wore a white suit, the jacket of the suit swallow tailed. In one hand he held his glasses and in his other hand he held a bundle of papers. He fearlessly strode toward Kiria's desk and set down the papers.

"Tell me, Hokuto." Kiria finally spoke up, though he never turned to face his assistant. The light-haired male, with the awkwardly formed pupils, sat with his cheek rested upon his fist; the elbow of his jacket sat wrinkled against the armrest of his chair. "Do you think, there is still a chance? All considering, would Shuzen offer me the monetary means to take back the Kansai region?" The Head of the 1st Division was, by no means, an ordinary human. His eye were an apparent divergence.

His assistant, as well as a majority of the workers at the company, were well aware of their leader's hybrid status, but many of them were of non-human standing.

"Losing the 7th Division was quite a blow on our finances and our forces." Hokuto admitted, none-at-all minding the flicker of killing intent that hovered over his superior's head, in fact it made him smirk as he knew the next bit of news would dry the dour spell that carried over the hybrid like a drought over a desert. "In fact," Hokuto continued even after Kiria turned to face him with the deadliest of glares ever to be poised directly at him. "There has been word that Miyabi was to be placed in charge, that is until..." Hokuto left his words hanging momentarily. He placed his fingers on the top of the pile of papers and slid them toward Kiria.

The hybrid looked to his partner in clear question, but slid the documents closer to his person so he could look them over. As Kiria shuffled through the documents, his expression clearly shifted from irritation, to interest. Now that Kiria was hooked, Hokuto thought it best to continue.

"It seems that Lord Shuzen's middle child was attending Jogakuin High school. He had lost contact with her about two days before the hanabake infestation." Hokuto looked to Kiria with a faint smirk painted on his handsome features.

Kira looked up to Hokuto and sat back in his seat.

"I see." Kiria brushed his fingers to his chin. "From what we do know of hanabake so far, they cannot properly degrade youkai flesh." He murmured. Hokuto nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it seems that because of the youki density by comparison with a human's ki, the hanabake are unable to properly bond with demonic flesh, the most they can do is take an almost symbiotic standing with them and create a sort of combined form, but a hanabake cannot kill a youkai in this manner." Hokuto explained as he directly quoted research done by Fairy Tale's Pharmaceutical division.

Kiria pulled back from his desk and turned his chair to face a large wall bare of any decorations or wall print. He held up a small remote control and pressed down. Hokuto turned as a section of wall rose from its discreet hiding place and revealed countless monitors which were individually marked via the Division they watched. Four monitors sat to a Division. Kiria pressed a few buttons which scrolled through the various angles the cameras sat within each building. Kiria and Hokuto watched, in particular, the cameras for the 7th Division. They could see as hanabake roamed around the floors and scratched at the doors where Fairy Tale personnel kept shelter. Many would use the building windows to come and go to gather the necessary supplies to fend off the beasts, but none dared to cross the floors the plant demons occupied: the first and top floors.


	2. Hand of Darkness

**Chapter 2: Hand of Darkness**

Even in early October, there were many places in Japan that held mild weather. Hanabake are grown in warm temperatures, but during the winters of the Kansai region, they are forced into a short period of hibernation, in which they do not sleep, but are unable to seed as rapidly as they would during the summer. As the summers in Kansai seemed to grow shorter, the hanabake pushed themselves into warmer areas. It was what everyone had been fearing for the longest: the first hanabake sighting outside of the Kansai region. For a long time, the first sighting was believed to be in the capital of Kagawa: Takamatsu, but as the sightings were traced back via individuals, and they discovered that a woman that went by the name of Kawamoto Marin was an origin sighting. Officials had come to the woman and questioned her, for it was not October 1st and it was becoming clear that the growing number of sightings in Kagawa that the Shikokou Island would become another Kansai Incident.

It was but days before the turn of the month, it was the 29th of September and Kawamoto Marin and her adopted daughter had escaped the terrors that befell Kamakura just narrowly, a year prior. Her daughter's kouhai stopped by during the hellish attack on the city. The young man had traveled to the city with his sensei for a club activity. While Kawamoto and her beloved daughter Otonashi Sun were shopping they had been attacked by one of the roving hanabake. A young man had swooped down to their rescue and ushered the two women away from the carnage. The young man identified himself as Morioka Gin, Sun's kouhai. He had been investigating the witch's ranch for a school project on how the Sunflower fields of Kamakura were subject to destruction by the corporate take over of Fairy Tale and their construction plans.

It was a difficult time for Kawamoto Marin. In that same day she had learned of her adopted daughter's inhuman nature, but both Sun and her kouhai were more than willing to protect a human such as she from such a demonic infestation. The pair of women were moved to the Island of Shikokou to the province of Kagawa. With their seaside hotel business ruined by the demonic infestation, they had turned around their hopes and moved to the island of Shodoshima. It was almost a year after the demon plants took over Kansai. Not one had ever been seen outside of the territory until the eve of that fateful night.

The young ayashi was to go shopping for the groceries, but the youkai girl still had many chores left over to do at the beach side inn and it was getting late. Marin insisted to take over the shopping as it was far too late for Sun to leave the inn, and so Marin headed to the mainland. She had never expected to fall prey to the first hanabake sighted outside of the Kansai area in at least a year.

* * *

_**September 29th Tamano City**_

It was late in the evening and the distant sounds of the mines were heard against the echoes that danced off the surrounding mountain cliffs. Marin was making her way toward one of the few still running rail systems on all of Nippon after the Kamakura Incident. Marin needed to hurry, as due to the Kamakura Incident, curfews have been set on all the railways. If she missed the last train home again, it would leave Sun to worry. It wasn't the first time Marin had missed the last ride to Shodoshima, and she swore to herself it would be the last. Even in late September humidity was high and workers were up and about as well as a number of tourists. Marin was used to the noise of the small city and was unsuspecting of another following the same path as she. The hostess clumsily lugged around her bags of groceries which she would use to cook the large breakfast that her inn was known for. Clattering of debris from wild animals nosing in corner allies were often muddled against the sounds of mining and the shuffling of feet across the concrete. It was a dull noise: humans marching about in droves, blissfully unaware of the danger that constantly stalked them. The woman neared the open mouth of the harbor where the train station sat.

The distant hissing of the train's breaks sounded through the warbles of seagulls and other night time creatures. At the end of the street, at the station's square, buildings would come to a sudden stop as crowded sidewalks became open walkways. The dark figure stalking the older woman drew nearer and nearer. When boots touched to the grit covered ground it was ignored as it sounded of any other traveler, but what Marin had failed to notice is that the streets were empty. Curfew had come without her knowledge and no soul, save the foolish kind, walked the streets. Soon, upon Marin, came a darkness. All Marin felt was a heavy shove against her shoulder and her vision was engulfed by the darkness of a stray alleyway. The woman was quick to toss away her heavy groceries, smartly discarding what would easily weigh her down. She knew something was wrong and chose her life which could not be as easily resupplied as food. Before the woman was allowed to flee, as her body so desperately wished, she was slammed back and the dumpster bin settled in the back of the dark, sewer smelling alley, had become her only cousin against the brick walls that surrounded her on all sides and caged her in with a fierce being that could be compared nothing near an animal.

The pain that surged through her back was immeasurable, but the malleable form of the dumpster's bin bent in under the force of her weight and helped, negligibly, prevent serious injury. Marin tried to push from her entrapment. With two buildings to either side of her, a wall to the back of her and a monster, to a holding, questionable literalism to the word, to her front: she was trapped. If he was a man, his size easily rivaled that of a mountain, and his features so grotesque, they offered questions of unnatural, physical mutations.

"Hey Saizou, hurry up." A voice complained from behind the massive male. Marin had to force her sight, and now that it was used to the dark alley she found it easier to make out the silhouettes of the two individuals in the narrow pathway.

The one that stood above her could easily be compared to an ogre, his size bearing the weight of the mythical mountain demons, but considering all that she now knew of Sun and those dreaded creatures that seem to be just coming out of the woodwork, perhaps these were...

"Shut up Midou, you'll get your turn as I promised." The beastly man hissed. Marin swallowed her shocked gasp. Her hands slapped over her mouth when she saw the larger man spit out his long, dextrous tongue which reached down nearly to the floor, and would have if it had not curled at the end.

The two men chuckled, and Marin knew just of what they spoke. She screamed, or at least tried until a slimy wet appendage, in fact the beast's tongue, wrapped around her neck. Her airways were constricted, her nails dug into the meaty muscle to try and deter her attacker and give herself a chance to scream. Fear was pouring from her body, but the horror did not strike until she heard the distinct scrape of a zipper being pulled down. The more Marin struggled, the tighter the snaking muscle wrapped around her thin neck. Screams she fought so hard to set free were literally crushed from her larynx. Her legs gave way beneath her own weight.

She was lifted from the ground and dangled precariously, her legs no longer having the strength to support her body. She was slowly pulled toward the two shadowy figures. The street lights weakly bled into the alley's entrance and allowed Marin to spy upon the visage of her two attackers. Their faces were twisted up in sick pleasure at the sight of her gasping, contorted face as Saizou unbuttoned her shirt and roughly took hold of her tiny breasts into his monstrous hands. His claws dug into the sensitive flesh, but Marin could not cry out for help and could only silently weep as she slowly began to lose consciousness. The larger one, Saizou, had deadly looking fangs and the other male, Midou, had bone-like structures covering his face much in a way a carapace would. Marin tried to separate her mind from her body as the molestation continued. She felt Saizou's claws release her now tender breast and take her hips into his claws. The demon groaned lewdly when he pressed his hardened crotch into Marin's and ground himself into her.

As soon as he and Midou were done with her he would be sure to kill her, perhaps eat her as these _strenuous _activities always made him hungry. She was given a few gulps of air, the _considerate _demon keeping her conscious for the event. Behind the pair a third shadow appeared, to Marin's disdain. It was far larger than the other two, though it was crouched down awkwardly, as if hiding from the darkness itself.


	3. Seed of the Hanabake's Terror

**Chapter 3: Seed of the Hanabake's Terror**

Marin blinked the tears from her eyes, trying to get a clearer view of the new, third figure which slowly inched toward the expanse of light that poured from the streetlamp. A long, gnarled claw silently reached out and pressed the pads of its red, fibrous fingers to the concrete street which was cracked from its age and constant use. A long, narrow head, not unlike a dog, but as frightening as any junkyard hound she has ever seen. Fangs lined its lip-less jaws, its head looking as if its skin had been peeled off a stretch of muscle. Fibers twisted and braided along the narrow body that crawled fully into the light like some alien out of a science fiction movie, but these demons, they were anything but weren't they? Marin was horrified at the sight. It sat all fours, but if it stood onto its hind legs it could easily tower over the man who now held her hostage. Marin wheezed out and shut her eyes when she realized what the creature was. It was one of those plant demons she had seen that fateful year ago. It was a blood red color, but what set her into a full panic, even though she lacked the oxygen to fight, was the sight of the two, smaller, hanabake to slither up to the larger one's side. The smaller ones' throats inflated slightly, like a frog's, and vibrated as they hissed out a rolling timbal sound which was remnant of cicada, but it was nearly winter...

The two demons seemed to realize this as well. They slowly turned their heads to the open mouth of the alley. Midou, the smaller of the two, whipped around and immediately took up a defensive stance where he grew a carapace covering over his arms and his fingers became long, extended claws.

"What the hell?" Midou called out, only to be attacked by the smaller pair of hanabake. Saizou unraveled his tongue from around the helpless Marin. The woman fell to the ground, choking, as she desperately fought for air.

"The fu-" Saizou was sent to the ground when the larger, blood red, hanabake lunged at him, its fangs poised at the rapist's throat.

Marin started to hyper ventilate as she struggled to force the needed air into her lungs. She could only sit on the cold, and slightly sticky ground, garbage and sewage all around, as the hanabake consumed the two demons, not even they seemed to be doing nothing more than ripping them to shreds. The two smaller ones held down Midou with their gripping hands and sinewy limbs. Their tails acted like weights and held them in metric motion as their hind claws dug into the concrete, even managing to scrape gashes in the hardened surface. They craned their long necks out and bit into the smaller demon's flesh. His carapace was of no consequence to the plant demons as their muscle-bound jaws easily gripped down and tore it away. Midou screamed in agony, but there would be no one to answer his call as the demon plants continued to slowly peel away strips of flesh and chew them like a fatty piece of jerky.

Marin could only watch in horror. She turned to her would-be rapist, who was pinned down by the red hanabake, who was double the size of the green ones. Saizou was pinned down, his weight doing nothing more than placing handicap on the beast. The red hanabake's forelimbs pinned down Saizou's forearms, and its hind legs gripped into the large demon's fleshy calf muscles. The red plant demon let out a rattling roar that shrilled in an airy hiss. One could only compare it to the cry of a banshee. Its long, whip-ended tail curled up over its head. Saizou was unable to scream, for the moment the rapist opened his mouth, the red plant fiend clamped its gigantic jaws around his throat. The whip tail stabbed into his chest. Saizou let out a shuddering gasp. The tail slowly carved down his chest and when it reached his abdomen it made quick work of disemboweling him.

The red hanabake seemed to still its movements just as the demon beneath it did. It tilted its narrow, almost tubular head slightly. Slowly, it pried open its mouth and released Saizou's throat: its fangs dripping with a color that matched its brilliantly colored hide. The two smaller hanabake seemed finished as well. Marin than jumped when the two smaller ones turned to face her. They slowly paced around the woman, their throats inflating with a softer, but just as aggressive sounding, hissing call. Marin tried not to move, lest provoke them to attack. They had just stripped the smaller demon of his flesh, they wouldn't need to eat her as well, would they? The larger demon hissed at them, they lowered their bodies to the ground submissively, almost like a dog would given they were being scolded by their master. The plants hissed back softly, almost as if they were communicating beyond what appeared to be instinct.

The bigger predator gets the choice kills, wasn't it?

Marin kept stock still. She turned her head away from the sight of the red one. It had crouched its hind quarters over Saizou's gutted abdominals. It held its head high and hissed out a deafening shrilling noise. The two smaller ones mimicked it as they pointed their snouts into the air and called out. The red demon plant curled up its tail and a strange tube-like appendage lowered from an opening between the flowering pistol on the end of the hanabake's tail. It was rounded at the end and dripped with a sticky substance. It was the hanabake's stigma. The stigma connected to a long structure called the style that most likely extended into its belly where it carried its ovary. The plant demon dropped seeds into Saizou's exposed organs, the oval objects were also coated in this sticky film and were slightly barbed. The the seeds were a greyish-blue color and sat at about the size of an orange by compare.

When it was done, the hanabake climbed off Saizou and crawled off toward Midou's lifeless body. It viciously hissed at the smaller ones who inched away from Marin, heads lowered to the larger plant and backs to a wall, given if the larger one decided to attack them at any time. The red plant slowly sauntered toward Midou, but instead of tearing out his organs, the red demon forced the end of her tail down his throat where, Marin could only assume, do whatever it did to the other male. The plant demon turned to face Marin. The women felt her bodily functions give out on her as this red-eyed fiend stared into her eyes, her horror tripling after she witnessed these demons mutilate and defile the carcasses of her would-be rapists. Would she be next? How would they kill her? All of these dark and heady thoughts coursed through the woman's head, her body no longer registering her ability to flee under the circumstance of becoming a hapless prey item. The smaller plants looked down and jumped back as the warm liquid flowed out from beneath Marin as she sat on the ground. She shivered from not the cold, but the events of the evening. The larger hanebake reeled its head back and inhaled a rolling sound of air at the woman's seemingly distracting act.

"Samhain, come." A voice called from the darkness of the streets.

The red hanabake reacted to the voice and looked up. It turned and slithered out of the alley, its long limbs awkwardly shuffling about as its long, particularly massive body, made its way into the open streets. Marin looked up and saw a young man under the light of the lamppost. He smiled warmly and her dark eyes were swallowed by the _look_ in his warm, chocolate colored orbs. He turned and left, the three demon plants walking along his side like tamed house cats. Marin's strength gave out and she passed out. In the next morning her body was found by some men heading out to the mines. Marin was dehydrated and was struck with severe pneumonia. She was hospitalized and recounted the events of the night, vaguely. There were two men that were dead in the alley that were about to rape her.

They found no others in the alley besides her, there was no other evidence as it had been washed away by the morning snowfall which forced Marin into her state of hypothermia which caused her pneumonia. Only days later after she recovered and sent home with her daughter had she recalled the frightening meeting with hanabake after hearing a large number of them appeared in Takamatsu, Kagawa. The woman claimed to have seen them during the night of her attack, where but three days later on October 1st were the first Hanabake sighted. It was now October 5th and the capital has been abandoned, its surrounding residents evacuated and those who were unable to flee in time...


	4. Classification of Demons

**Chapter 4: Classification of Demons**

These hanabake were unlike the plant demons of Kamakura. The fiends that occupied the Kansai which, due to their allelopathic properties, were able to spread and propagate a greater amassing of their own kind are considered to be something on the level of Sunflowers which were famous on the Kamakura reserves. It is in fact now believed, thanks to research headed by Fairy Tale, that Hanabake shared a genetic map similar to the sunflower with somewhere around 3.5 base pairs in their genome, which is only slightly more than humans, but what makes the hanabake remarkable is that the Kamakura hanabake, or Helian hanabake, is they have specific genes in common with their human prey. The hanabake which have infested Takamatsu are known as Dragon hanabake are closely related to the Dragon's Mouth flower commonly found in marshes and other watery bogs. Dragon hanabake are more brightly colored as opposed to the Helian hanabake, but they are much smaller and faster, save for the largest of the Dragon Hanabake which are said to be occasionally sighted in ares with high female populations. The two larger Dragon hanabake are named Rokugosha and Ningai. They are much larger than their smaller offspring and are considered male when compared to Helian which are primarily female. Unlike the Helian, who are known to seed male or female, Dragon hanabake only seed female humans.

They were also called Spider Orchids. Like some aggressive species of spiders they often ambushed from underground: their tips of their tails would flag out from the soil in which they hid. The flowering tips were so small that one would easily pass them by. Before their prey knew it they were pulled into the communal pits dug by the plants. Much like the Helian, Dragon occupied the Shikoku Island and no where else, not even the smaller islands of Shodoshima, Oshima, Nakajima, Godo, Kashima, Okinoshima and the larger island of Awaji which surrounded Shikoku.

It was impossible to tell where the infestation grew from until Kawamoto Marin's report. It seems there was a strain of Helian born on Shikoku which mutated from the original ones and propagated on the island's warmer weather. With the discovery of this new demon, Fairy Tale and Global forces needed to find new ways to curb the more resilient beasts where methods of literal fire walls would no longer suffice to defend homes and properties. It took only a year for them to mutate, where it would take a normal species some hundreds, upon thousands of years, but there was one more demon that could not be accounted for. Helians had ruby colored eyes, and Dragons blue, but Kawamoto, just before she was released to her home on Shodoshima Island, made mention of a brown-eyed beast that lead the Helian spawn and could speak human tongue... It had spread with only one story. Many say the special hanabake behaves much in the way a Garigarious plant does. It disguises itself in camouflage, in this case the skin of a human, to lure you into its trap.

Word spread through Japan of the brown-eyed demon plant master. As word spread of this unknown creature and its mysterious origin, having only made itself known once, prior to the Dragon infestation in Takamatsu, so did rumors of its form. It varied from prefecture to prefecture. A fiend that stood five onto eight feet tall, black, with melting pools of copper for eyes. Its voice beckons you like the whisper of the devil, and his hands mimicked that of a man.

As rumors of the human-speaking hanabake, so did fears. Fairy Tale promised that its latest research, which used a over 15% of the their country's GDP, the research funding aiding their search in a means to absolutely defeat this scourge that now was not just a threat to the island of Nippon, but neighboring countries as well if these creatures sought to leave their water locked island nation, proven by their surfacing in the island of Shikoku. Fairy Tale is also given private funds through charities from various undisclosed groups from both the mainland of China, their own countrymen and the United States, and with promises of results Shuzen had even folded to offering funds, but only if his daughters, known as the fiercest assassins to be known in the underworld, to work directly under Miyabi Fujisaki, head of the PR department of Fairy Tale, directly under him.

Kiria did not mind, so long as someone kept a leash on Miyabi's ambitions. Supposedly the conglomerate group was on the verge of discovering the original strain of hanabake, of which Kiria, being the 1st Division executive, knew where to find data. Even though the ranch had been bombed and burned to ash by the following fire, there had to be some evidence left, particularly in the underground storage areas found via sonar, under the ruined land. Kiria wished to have the property's underground rooms searched and to do so Hokuto had suggested Ueshiba Mizuki, because of the young ayashi's burrowing abilities as they would come in handy incase the caves collapsed from the weakness caused by weather and weight of the manor's ruins upon it after so much time passed. He also decided to send a young Jorougumo by the name of Keito. She is the underling of an associate of Kiria. Her tracking abilities are exceptional as well as her fierce loyalty would balance out Ueshiba's reckless streak.

With a loud rumbling thud, the old, root gnarled wall, of the underground space caved-in. The Witch's Ranch had become an ash covered wasteland after the bombing. The property was sealed off by the government as a hazard to the public, even though the land itself was still owned by Fairy Tale. Many feared the lands to be cursed for even after a year nothing would grow. At first many accused the government for using poison on the land, but when it was learned they had merely used incendiary bombs people have come to fear that the witches, once said to roam the lands, their spirits were still attached to their piece of nature.

"Che, don't dally Keito-chan." The ayashi scoffed in humor as he stepped from the large tunnel of dirt. His dirty sneakers stepped into the crumbling, dry soil into what appeared to be an old storage basement.

All around were shelves made of natural wood. The knots and twists from being exposed to the underground's moisture was apparent. Without the house above to protect it: in a year the precipitation and melting snow soaked into the underground storage area. A clatter rattled behind the ayashi, who was covered from head to toe in the soot and dirt of the earth surrounding. He turned his head to the sight of the young woman. She wore the black skirt and top of her uniform. She was a second-year officer of the Youkai Academy, a school located in the secret sanctuary of the Monster World. She was a member of the Public Safety Committee whom ensured the safety of other students and the freedoms of justice. Ueshiba was originally positioned on the Student Council of the Academy as a cover. He had heard of the exploits of the Committee, and though he didn't look down on Keito for her loyalty to her boss, he wasn't too fond of politics, he just loved to fight and travel. The Jorougumo was lithe and sneered as her black heels slid into some of the dusty pile and kicked it up.

"Ugh," she coughed and waved her hands to clear the brown cloud. "This better be worth it." She complained, disgruntled for her boss sending her here of all places. What did she care of witches?

As they trudged forward, Keito begrudgingly, they spied many jars which lined the shelves. Many of them was filled with foodstuff, and others they could not tell what was in the jar and hoped they never knew. Keito shivered at the chill that carried through the underground storage room. Some of the soil had taken a blood red coloration, as far as heir youkai eyes could see in the darkness, from the chains and hooks that hung precariously from rafters and looped around farming tools, possibly used to tend the demon plants that now infested a good portion of Japan.

A horrible stench permeated the area, their sensitive youkai noses were scrunched in disdain, though Keito's more noticeably than her current partner. They realized that the scent weakly wafted from an old refrigeration unit that has been knocked open. Ueshiba glanced over his shoulder at Keito and grinned. The woman huffed and shuffled back, placing her hand over her nose in offense. Ueshiba laughed and waved his hand dismissively at the prissy officer.

"Oh yer no fun, che." He scoffed and grinned at her as his hand slowly reached for the fridge.

"Cut the crap Ueshiba, we have work." Keito threatened. Ueshiba huffed at the woman's all-business attitude and pushed out the door of the fridge.

"Whatever wench, yer just-" Ueshiba paused and looked to Keito, who's face fell into a mixture of disgust and horror. Ueshiba turned to the now opened fridge and jumped back at the sight. Crammed in the small, cubic space was the contorted form of a corpse.


	5. Counting Limbs

**Chapter 5: Counting Limbs**

It looked almost mummified, with leathery skin and visible teeth. Its head was twisted up into a tilt as its arms were wrapped around its body, which struggled to fit in the icebox. Its jaw was open in a frightful gaze that held similar to an old painting by Van Gogh. It had a pair of empty eye sockets, or at the least lacking eyeballs as the sockets themselves writhed and squirmed with the presence of maggots. It was odd, the rest of the body lay untouched, meaning that the maggots only just found their way to the meaty flesh, but they were underground and there was no open path to the surface, save the one the burrowing ayashi just carved from the earthen walls.

Ueshiba sneered and staggered back. Even if he was a youkai, such a level of death was wholly different from a fresh kill. Someone was saving this, human... for a meal!

"Gross." The ayashi inappropriately blurted out. Keito rolled her eyes.

"You idio-aahh!" Keito screamed as she was suddenly pulled to the ground and drug beneath one of the shelves', which knocked down the jar lined storage unit. Ueshiba called for the female, but was forced to leap back when the shelf came crashing down on him.

With a explosive slam: the wooden shelf hit the ground. The jars erupted and their contents were splashed all over the ground and walls, and even Ueshiba himself. The stink that poured into the air from the newly shattered containers was quickly forgotten.

"Keito!" Ueshiba called as he wiped clean his cheek. Before the ayashi could rush to assist the Jorougumo he felt a chill run down his spine. In an instantaneous strike of instinct the ayashi dropped to the hard ground and dug.

Though he was literally blind underground as dirt pushed across his face and roots slicked against his claws, Ueshiba could be compared to a mermaid in water with his twisting motions that made it more like swimming though water rather than digging. The burrowing ayashi could easily feel his surroundings underground, and when he that there was no movement he surfaced. The monstrel slowly pulled himself to the surface, the ground peeling back against the rooting male. He looked around from his ground level. All was still, at least there was no killing intent in the air. His sense of smell was stifled by the pungent scents that had now almost doubled in strength with the spilled jars of spoiled foodstuffs.

The ayashi pulled himself to the surface and immediately pulled his arm over his nose. His sneakers shuffled against the dusty ground, his body wearing a new layer of earth. His eyes scanned the darkness as he slowly proceeded. The space was deceptive. Though at first glance it seemed small, there were open spaces behind shelves and narrow storage coves behind walls. The digger began to understand what that scent was. It was the smell of rotting human flesh mixed with the rusting metal chains which was rolled in moldy plant matter. Ueshiba continued to cautiously search for Keito, but not without his claws extended out. Something grabbed her. Were there perhaps more hanabake left here?

_Thack thack thack._

Ueshiba froze mid-step. He looked around, pointed ears twitching at the discordant sounds. The smells were beginning to churn the ayashi's stomach. He started to grow a bit dizzy, the brick laden walls beginning to infinitely cycle.

_Thack thack thack._

It sounded again, only to be followed by a scraping noise which ended with a faster series of _thack_. The ayashi placed his hand on the wall of the corner to steady his rapidly declining balance.

_Thack!_

The sound of the cleaver made when it came down into the leg of the Jurougumo. There was a table situated in the middle of the space, a table one would normally find in a butcher's kitchen. It was stained with just as much blood. On the bloody table lay Keito. With the mass of blood that poured from the edge of the death rack one would assume the Jurougumo was dead, but was not. Her arms and legs were skewered through with sharp, formless blade-like objects. They seemed to have frayed edges similar to a bird's feather. Her mouth had been forced open, her mandible curled out and grabbing at the gag which appeared to be twists of vines and roots. Tears raced down her eyes as the pain overwhelmed her senses.

All eight of Keito's arachnid legs, which protruded from her abdomen from beneath her uniform shirt had been lifted, forcibly and was yanked partially over her chest. The black and yellow legs were bent back and backwards and the knuckles of the long, demonic legs were pressed to the ground, which painfully stretched the lateral of her soft underbelly. The figure that stood behind her wore a black cloak made of wool. The black frays of thread along the edge made the shawl's material apparent. In the figure's hand was a large butcher's cleave. Their other hand was pressed against Keito's kneecap where it was pushed flat to make her leg an easier target. Ueshiba could easily see the meat and bone of Keito's mutilated limb. The figure had been working through her leg with the weapon alone. Jagged edges of muscle and skin showed the lack of skill in the strikes. Frayed marks over the flesh and the, earlier, dull hacking noises showed the figure's weak blows that fought to take the appendage.

Keito looked to the ayashi and begged him with her eyes, but before Ueshiba could react a massive shadow fell and curtained around his body. He screamed out, swinging out his arms as the curls of the shadow wrapped around the ayashi and constricted him. The shadow twisted and swirled in amorphous shapes before it took the form of a raven, and Keito could only watch as the shadowy beak stabbed down into the folded wings and tore apart the male. His screams tore across the empty space as blood pooled to the ground. When the shadow-form familiar melted back into the darkness from whence it came, all that was left Ueshiba was a pile of bones, blood and clothing.

Keito turned her head up to her torturer. Her dark eyes found the darkened face of her tormenter. The Jorougumo shook her head, but her pleas were cast aside when the cleaver came down and with a sickening crunch the figure was finally able to sever the Jurougumo's leg from her body. A scream ripped through her throat. Keito's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she passed out. With the youkai now unconscious the robed figure continued to hack into her body.


	6. Blood Stained Saint

**Chapter 6: Blood Stained Saint**

A cold wind carried into the underground storage room with a cacophony of howls following in its wake. The shattered jars of glass that now littered the soil dripped silently with the multicolored liquids of what remained of their contents. The mummified corpse in the old ice box had fallen from its place, having been jostled by the erratic carnage that led to Ueshiba's death. The bones of aforementioned youkai lay discarded in a pool of rapidly vanishing blood. Pieces of meat and muscle still lingered on the all but stripped bones. Scraping groves along the calcium forms gave the appearance of teeth or files having been ground along its surface. The blood had been absorbed by the ground which slowly parted under the force of what appeared to be growing roots. The dark figure continued to hack the now dead female youkai into pieces, which were piled on the ground in the corner.

From the tunnel, dug by the pair of intruders, another individual made their way into the subterranean room. From behind the form was followed by a large, quadrupedal creature that shuffled its head side to side, much in the manner a large dog would when scenting the ground. For every step taken, the ground around the two forms parted and soil was forced apart as small, almost dwarfed, hahabake climbed from the undersoil. The form stepped over the corse of Ueshiba, the dwarfed hanabake that climbed from the surrounding soil were coated in blood.

A deep rumbling sound filled the tiny corner room which was now permeated with the stench of blood, masked by the rotting foodstuffs that filled the air. With a sharp hiss Samhain pushed itself onto the flat, blood covered table. Its throat was inflated and its flower-tipped tail lashed against the air. The robed figure pulled the wool shawl from their form. With her hair tied back in a pony tail which hung over her shoulder Toujyou Ruby stood fearlessly in the face of the demon plant. The witch's ebony hair was pulled back into a single ponytail and she allowed the shawl to fall over her shoulders to protect herself from the cold of the basement. The witch held out her hand, flat, to the beast, but it hissed and pulled back its head. Ruby smiled weakly and looked up as her savior stepped into the light.

The dark-haired male strode toward the table with a soft smile on his face. Samhain nuzzled its face against Tsukune. The young man chuckled and pushed the demon plant's muzzle, which eventually commanded it to hop off the table. She circled the human and stood behind him, her head glancing around his side, up to Ruby. Tsukune rubbed the back of his head and smiled weakly.

"It stinks down here, you sure you're okay Ruby?" Tsukune seemed ill concerned about the bloody cleave in her hand and the disposed youkai which surrounded them.

Tsukune wore a dark cloak that protected him from the cold. Beneath it he wore a pair of faded jeans and a navy long-sleeved shirt. Around his neck he wore a wool scarf, a gift from Ruby. The ebony haired witch bowed her head.

"Yes." She gently answered. Spots of blood dotted her cheek as well as the upper, right half of her corset. "I'm sorry you had to come all the way here." Ruby looked down at herself, ashamed of her state.

She crouched down and scooped up one of the smaller hahabake at her feet which were shuffling around like hatchlings. The witch gently cradled the squirming demon in her hand to show to Tsukune.

"I've had luck with the new hybrids." She stepped around the table and walked toward Tsukune.

Samhain huffed and slithered away in the opposite direction around the carving table, toward the pile of body parts on the ground. The plant demon attentively sniffed at the splayed chunks of meat as Ruby handed the smaller dwarfed hanabake to Tsukune. Tsukune took the small demon and smiled warmly. He looked over to Samhain. He turned to Ruby and smiled sadly.

"Are those... for her?" He asked tentatively.

"O-of course! S-shall we take it home, Tsukune-san?" Ruby looked up to her savior with her lavender eyes. Tsukune smiled and nodded.

"Sure Ruby, I'm sorry I asked you to return to this place and work on these little ones." He said apologetically as the red-fleshed plant demon strolled back up to his side, a hunk of the fallen youkai's torso in its jaws. Its fangs dug into the soft, dripping flesh, a hisses rolling over the stretch of skin. "I just can't watch innocent lives be taken anymore." The tiny hanabake climbed onto Tsukune's shoulder.

These smaller versions were fast and far less voracious than their larger versions, much preferring to feed on blood than flesh. Tsukune did not want to see anyone else hurt, these smaller hanabake would be easier to feed and did not specifically desire human flesh. Samhain was a blessing to him as she did not demand specific flesh and took whatever Tsukune gave her, but meat was a still large part of her diet.

"I want to see that people like your master never again fill this world, and with you Ruby, that can come true." Tsukune smiled and pulled Ruby into a hug.

The witch felt her body melt in his embrace. The red-skinned demon plant hissed and rubbed its body against the young male. Tsukune pulled from the witch and looked down to the demon plant. He smiled and at the beast who carried the hunk of flesh like a dog holding a bone.

"Let's go home." He offered the witch.

"Hai." Tears brimmed her mauve eyes and love filled her heart. Even if she was a monster, a border being, he was the only one she had left to take care of her. "Anything for you Tsukune-san. Anything."

"I'll carry the body, you usher the smaller ones above ground before everything gives way." Ruby nodded to his commands and was about to step to walk ahead, but Samhain hissed and jumped forward so she was in the lead.

As Ruby went about digging off the spots of dirt where the dwarfed hanabake slept Tsukune knelt down and removed the cloak from his shoulders. He pulled the remaining pieces of carcass into the fold of fabric and tied it off. He hoisted the mass over his back with a loud squirt. The trail left by their exit was obvious, but both the trail of blood and trail of demon, master and servant vanished in amidst the ash of the fields of Kamakura.


	7. He Comes

**Chapter 7: He Comes**

Washed with the guilt of watching those around him die as he stood and did nothing to save them, Aono Tsukune could not return home with blood staining his hands. To seek forgiveness, not only from the soul of those who had watched over him, and died, but to save Ruby from the despair of her fate he had caused by running away when kami had clearly brought him to save the witch from the hands of her master. He had, but it had been too late and the deed had been done. She had killed everyone. So for her, and for himself he would use these miraculous plants to save the world from the fate he was forced to suffer. Never again.

Tsukune and Ruby traveled side by side and made their way back to their place of hiding, a place no one would suspect them to be. Lying in a shadows of ruin, choked by thick, gnarled vines that twisted toward the heavens, was the former headquarters of the 7th Division. This is where they set up the place where all would start anew: upon the carcasses and howling protests of their enemies. The pair were alone in this world and no longer had a place to call home, hands too stained with blood to return to the society that shunned such acts of carnage, even if in the name of good. It was the same place Samurai had once held. Exalted as heros, but accused to be murderers, even as they carried their blades solely for the sake of their country. These ruined held prisoned the men that forced the hand of Ruby's former master. They were the source of all that was evil in the world. Behind the walls of crumbling stone and decaying floors of plant and concrete: lay the largest nest of hanabake in all of Kansai. Ruby's heels tapped along the cracked slabs of concrete, being forced from place by the ever forming roots. When one looked into the sky they could see a dark cloud which held place over the island nation. It had formed when the fields of Kamakura were incinerated, and never seemed to pass away. The top of the roots could be seen and here, at the edge of heaven, the earthy colors of the roots turned to the rotting black of ash. The trunk twisted and curled into a needle-like point that hung its head and seemed to grip to a large, red colored fruit.

All over the building's outer shell Helian crawled and seemed to tend to the scars driven into the thick material by wayward attacks of passing jets and military aircraft. No amount of brute force could take down or weaken the structure. They only seemed to make it stronger. Those that had remained in the building, could no longer find a way out as the roots and trunk swallowed its form whole, cocooning the man-made structure in the deadly embrace of nature. One by one the employees found themselves sealed off from the outside world and food supplies dwindled to nothing. Soon the hanabake began to swarm the floors and destroy everything in sight, ripping apart the youkai flesh and left the blood to soak the roots that had since replaced marble floor with dirt and vines. The last live feed Kiria received allowed him insight on the nature of the hanabake.

It was something greater than simply hivemind. These creatures were being controlled, perhaps a witch had survived the devastation of the Ranch, if so than he could use this to his advantage. If he brought her back alive, than he would be able to take control of the scourge for himself and use it to propel Fairy Tale's prowess across the world. These fiends were biological weapons and if they were bred so easily and so controlled similarly to a Familiar, than they would make millions. When Ueshiba and Keito did not return he was sure there was something hidden in the ruins of the Ranch. He would not send his men unknowingly into death, no, why should he when the Shuzen girls would suffice? If anything were to happen to them, it would be in Miyabi's hands.

"So they were watching us than?" Tsukune questioned as he sat almost throned in a seat that was settled in a room filled with roving Helian hanabake.

The small demon plants fed from their stock of fresh meat, what was left over in blood was absorbed by the plant. The inner chambers served as passages for the two lovers and their Familiars. Though the fluorescent lights that once filled the room had long since been consumed by the overgrown plant matter, the plant itself had taken properties of the light and hung organs of rounded fruits that created a luminescent glow in the darkness of its innards. Ruby stood across from Tsukune and carried his blood soaked cloak in her arms. Samhain lay curled on the ground by his side. Her head was held high in attentiveness and her tail swayed in the air like a flag. Unlike the other hanabake who were controlled by the witch, Samhain seemed to hold a free will the others did not and the red fleshed plant demon could also take control of the lesser hanabake when she needed.

In Tsukune's hand sat the remains of a camera that had been ripped from its wires by Ruby's raven Familiar: Satoru. The loyal raven cawed as it weaved and bobbed from the perch of his master's shoulders. Ruby had changed from her blood splattered corset to a more formal long-sleeved top. It was a satin colored a deep blue and elegantly rested on the sides of her shoulder which cut in a design that revealed her collar and back. Around her neck she wore a black leather strap and her hair was left to hang loose, the end tied off with a blue ribbon.

"Yes, we can only assume that Fairy Tale has seen us here." Ruby said in worry. Tsukune chuckled and smiled warmly at his lover. Ruby furrowed her thin brows and tilted her head slightly.

"This is great Ruby!" He stood from his seat. Samhain reacted to his motion and stood up. The demon plant snapped her jaws and hissed curiously. "This means they'll come to us soon, but that gives us little time to complete everything before he blooms." Tsukune said as he looked up to the ceiling.

If one took a moment to listen the the voice of nature that witches could so easily touch with their fingers, than you could hear the voice of the towering tree as he moaned and groaned. His body grew. Ash black bulbs sprouted all along his trunk and roots which made the bright red fruit that hung at the highest point stand out. Tsukune discarded the broken camera and walked to Ruby. He took her hand into his and smiled.

"I will take it all back for you Ruby. I will return nature to its true form so you and everyone can live happily in peace. I don't ever want to see you fight, nor see you alone." Samhain hissed at Tsukune's words and the young man turned to the fiend and knelt down. "And you too Samhain. You both shall remain at my side forever, that is... if you'll have me." Tsukune smiled when Samhain nuzzled against his body and Ruby placed her hand atop his head.

"Tsukune-san... I will follow you to the ends of this world. This is not just my dream, but it has become yours. You are meant for something great and wonderful." Tsukune slowly stood and faced Ruby.


	8. No Future for the Unborn

**Chapter 8: No Future for the Unborn**

Her mauve eyes melted into his molten copper pools. The witch never felt more complete when he paid her such heed. His warm hands brushed against her cheeks, only to harshly drag into her silken locks of coal. She gasped out when he pulled back her head and bared her neck before him. She clasped her hands in front of her chest. She could feel her heart ready to burst under his calculated ministrations. His hot mouth pressed to her pale flesh and suckled her soft skin until it bruised. She felt as his nails scraped down along her back like a rake through the earth. It made her tremble and her chest convulse. He showed her such love by holding his authority over her so. He knew exactly how to please her and how to make her cry out.

She gasped when he stood behind her and gripped her wrist. Satoru flew from his master's shoulder and settled itself onto the overhanging branches. Samhain shook its head and circled the ground before it lay curled in the presence of his master, none deterred by their activities that have become commonplace. Tsukune ran his free hand down the side of the witch's long dress and slowly gripped the fabric, meticulously drawing it up to reveal the naked flesh that was marred so with evidence of their affections. He continued to pull the fabric until it hiked over her waist. Ruby tried to move as the chill of the air caught her naked flesh, but Tsukune's grip tightened over her wrist in a deliriously pleasurable pressure.

"T-tsukune-san..." The witch felt his hand brush over her her slightly extended belly.

"Is this why you have been holding out on me, Ruby?" Tsukune questioned teasingly as he ran his nails over the forming belly. The witch was about sixteen weeks pregnant. Though the pair had been together for almost a year: between running away, creating more hatchlings and finding a suitable hiding place from their enemies they had little time with each other. "This is a precious gift, life, we cannot squander it. We must take care of it." he whispered into her ear which filled the already silent room with a choking emptiness, only to bite down on her ear and cause her to scream out.

The witch went weak at the legs, the act alone was enough to twist that wretched fire in her stomach. Tsukune tucked the hem of the skirt into her shirt's collar so he could more easily force his hand into the woman's underwear. Ruby whined in her throat at the feeling of her lover caressing her so. She was so sickeningly easy to satisfy, something he proved time and time again, and continued to as his fingers pinched the most sensitive part of her womanhood. He literally brought the witch down to her knees. He lay over her back and kept the weight of his body light so she could settle on her hands and knees to prevent pressure on her stomach. She whimpered when she felt his torturously slow motions drag down her underwear, leaving her bum bare. She could hear him shuffle his pants down just enough, before he took the separate mounds of her pale posterior into his hands. Though, for the witch, it was not an unfamiliar taken path, it still brought her pain.

Though the couple shared a dark love together, their activities held anything but love. It was a raw rutting that put beasts to shame and forced devils to blush and turn away.

Back at the ruins of the Kamakura Ranch the peace of the deadlands were once again disrupted, but this time by a vehicle. A car speed toward the ash covered garden that was once filled end to end in Sunflowers. Tires tore into the loose, dry dirt which crumbled to dust under the spinning force of the wheels. The black vehicle pulled up to the ruins of the old manor, much of which has become nothing more than a pile of rotten wood and decayed shelves of fungus and mold. Two figures stepped from the vehicle's front seats than another from the passenger's side.

"What a dump." An irritated, female voice scoffed out. The figure in front of the individual turned to shake her head in a scolding manner at the smaller female.

"Now, now Kokoa-chan, be respectful! This is a grave!" The older woman frowned.

Kokoa looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years of age and had fire red hair. She wore a dark red sailor blouse which was tied off with a black ribbon. She also had a short black skirt and a pair of knee-high socks that matched her shirt's coloration. On her wide, white, sailor collar sat perched a small round and chubby brown bake-bake bat on her shoulder. Bake-bake bats were a strange species of animal. They had the ability to shape-shift in to various forms and shapes and behaved much in the way Familiars do, though aren't acquired in the way that most Familiars are. They are said to stay loyal to their masters for life and are believed to be the Familiar of choice for vampires. Kokoa was the youngest sister of Akashiya Moka, but she carried the family name of Shuzen, like her two older sisters. She is said to have a clingy personality and was especially close to Moka. When she learned that her sister may have been killed by the hanabake swarm, she refused to believe it and had been the one to convince her father of reconsidering her dear onee-sama's great strength.

The Lord of their vampire house was doubtful as the particular girl's demonic powers had been sealed off, something of which he felt a heavy guilt for.

"W-why should I? Look what they did Kahlua-nee!" She offered rather fearfully to her older sibling, her emerald eyes twitching as she cowered slightly.

Kahlua stood behind the door of the front of the car. She wore a long, gold colored dress. She had darker skin than her younger sister, tanned. Her long, curly blonde hair was held back by a silver and diamond studded tiara. On her ears hung two crosses, both silver and studded, designed similarly to her more prominent accessory. She had a proud stance and wore a warm smile. But that warm smile hid the force of one of the most deadly assassins in the demon and human world. It was never a good idea to make the older woman cry, something which she was quite prone to do...

Kahlua frowned slightly and turned to the man who stood at the driver's side of the vehicle. "Miyabi-kun? Do you think there's anything here? I ..." The elder vampire paused and pulled her knuckles to her lip in a worrisome motion.

The tall, dark-haired male leaned his weight on the open door of the driver's side of the car. His long trench coat fluttered in the wind and his designer boots shuffled against the layers of ash.

"What is it Kahlua?" He questioned in his baritone voice, that rolled through the chilly airs like a blistering wind. "What do you sense here?" he wondered, quite curious. Was it the same that he could sense?

Kahlua shook her held and pulled her hands to her chest. "T-there's nothing. I can't sense _anything._" She said with an almost pained voice. When Kokoa realized her sister's words she too looked up and tried to test it for herself.

The younger sister reeled back in horror. Nothing? There was always _something_ in the air, but there was absolutely _**no**_ life left in these lands.

"W-what's going on here, Miyabi?" Kokoa demanded with an impatient vigor.

The older man stepped from the car and slammed closed his door. His footfalls crunched against the tightly packed ash. He walked only a few meters before he crouched down over what appeared to be remnants of footprints in the ash, distorted by the winds. He brushed the tips of his fingers in the ash. A heavy wind blew through and cleared away the remaining trail.

"It means this land is dead." Miyabi stood and brushed clean his hand

"What do you mean dead? This was a garden of death not too long ago!" The young vampire accused. "Miyabi answer me!" She demanded, her desperation was beginning to show. She wanted answers that would lead her to her sister.

Miyabi was calm and motioned his hand for the girls to approach. "It hasn't always been dead..." Something suspicious was in the air and the man knew that he would find answers in those ruins. The two vampires looked to each other, but none-the-less made their way to Miyabi who began toward the ruins of the Witches' old manor.


	9. Stingy Jack

**Chapter 9: Stingy Jack**

Kokoa and her sister Kahlua searched the ruins of the manor with Miyabi at their side. The shrewd male seemed less inclined to search beneath the rubble and was content to often give pause in his search and gaze off into the distance. From the hill one could smell the ocean waters, the heavy salted air stinging at one's nose with the cold winds of fall bristling into winter. Kokoa was growing irritated with the older male and slammed her foot down onto a pile of moldy wood and easily splintered the object seven ways. Kahlua looked up from the spot she was crouched over. Her dark eyes gazed up toward the stoic features of the man. Miyabi was an entrepreneur of sorts and loved to make money at the expense of others. In particular he sought to take over a certain tribe of youkai through marriage, but his bride-to-be fled days before. She was the niece of the village's high priestess and would have taken up a very controlling position. He sent out teams to search for the girl, but upon their return they could report nothing save for frozen blood of youkai origin found in the area.

"Miyabi-kun?" Kahlua called out gently. The elder vampire was not mournful for the loss of who she considered an enemy. She had a deep-seeded affections for Miyabi, though she would never openly speak of them while she held a professional relationship with the male.

The black-haired businessman turned his head to glance over his shoulder. Kahlua pushed to stand, the debris beneath her heels crunched under the pressure. Much of the wood had been burned to charcoal and the stone that remained had been charred black. The early morning sun glittered off the shards of glass that lay scattered among the mounds of dirt and ash. It was the break of dawn and the group had been searching for any and all signs of life or even some evidence of former inhabitants, but it was all turned to dust. It was unnecessary and Miyabi knew Kiria had to be behind it. The man scoffed and turned to face the girls.

"It seems Kiria believes he can trick the Devil in his pocket a second time, but it will turn against him." His mutterings seemed random, a slight off. The two vampires furrowed their brows in a show of concern. Miyabi motioned his hand to gesture to the surrounding land. "Why annihilate the source? Kiria was ready to overturn Fairy Tale if that meant getting a Witch to join his side, than why this?" Miyabi posed a serious question, though it was presented in a rhetorical manner.

Kahlua and Kokoa seemed to try and think. The red-haired vampire crossed her arms under her chest and held her head high.

"It isn't up to him to destroy human property. That was the deal made with the Dark Lords hundreds of years ago. Harm shall never come directly upon the human world unless a youkai goes rogue. Even if Fairy Tale does cause problems it keeps to the law most of the time and don't involve human property damage or kill humans." She explained knowledgeably. Kahlua nodded in agreement, but shook her head when Miyabi shook his.

"Certainly this is the case with youkai and human relations, but do not forget that Kiria runs the 1st and formerly 7th Divisions which were made up of Outcasts that aren't held by the same laws due to their mixed natures. Their caste allows them to often work above and outside that system." Miyabi brushed his hands through his dark hair, looking rather annoyed and bothered. Kahlua brightened up and clapped her gloved hands together.

"Does that mean that because of a Witch's racial division they are not considered human or youkai they would fall under the same caste?" She questioned. Kokoa shook her head and looked up at Miyabi in question.

"Wait," the younger vampire began. "Would that mean that if he got that witch he could have controlled that swarm of man-eating plants? And this would have been _his_ doing?" She was offended by the very thought. That sect of black magic was believed to be beneath most youkai as they relied on power or brains. Magic was reserved for weak races like humans, witches and small shamanistic youkai such as goblins and trolls.

"There were only two witches living here at the time." Miyabi crouched down and scooped up a pile of ash in his black-gloved hand. The soot slipped between his digits and rained down to the ground, only to be taken up by the wind. "When we first searched the surface there was nothing..." Miyabi glanced over to Kahlua.

"There was a corpse down below, it looked human, female. It matched the description of the elder witch seen tending the garden." They had searched the basement briefly but the stench that saturated the underground had quickly forced the two vampires and even human, up. There Kahlua was able to discern the corpse from her data on the two witches. Being an assassin such as she, she must be able to recognize her victims, dead or alive, especially if they have been drained of all their blood...

Miyabi nodded and clapped his hands clean. "The other at the ranch was her young apprentice, a witch by the name of Toujyou Ruby. She was born of the Toujyou clan who were very powerful witches, but dwelled among humans. The two witches that cared for her, presumably her parents, were killed in a car accident, the girl survived and was sent to the Kamakura Ranch, the closest coven. Kiria seems to have been waiting for Toujyou to complete her apprenticeship and force the witches to ally with them."

"But someone got to them first and killed the witch's master." Kokoa realized. "But to kill a witch so old means this other person must be strong." It wasn't hard for Kokoa to piece together it was most likely this individual that controlled the hanabake as the demon plants cannot be so easily manipulated by such a young witch. It takes several hundred years for witches to learn to control such complex Familiar systems like hordes, even as powerful as Kokoa was, she could only manipulate a single bake-bake bat.

Miyabi nodded and put his hand on his hip. "It looks like someone took what Kiria wanted, and I'm sure that half-breed wants it back." Miyabi glanced over his shoulder.

The two vampire girls jumped back onto less cluttered ground and held open fighting stances. Kokoa stood with her legs apart as the weight of her now transformed bake-bake but pushed her into the uneven ash. The tiny bat had been forced into transformation by its master and took the form of a massive Bell Hammer with decorative curls of metal that formed wing-like shapes of his former animal form. Kahlua stood with her hands held flat and open palm.

"It seems we get to find out what's sucking the life out of this land." Miyabi spoke up as the ground began to shake and shift beneath them.

The ground just above the underground storage room ruptured and earth pushed up from the inside out, like a newly forming flank of a volcano. Instead of magma seeping from the crater, vines erupted, each one twisted with a medley of thorns and barbs. The vines that once only lined the walls of the storage room had doubled in size and now choked the passages beneath the ruins. A piercing screech broke through the deathly silent air and carried across the flatlands into the city and down the cliffs into the open beaches. The winds themselves died out against the horrific calls that made the two vampiric figures wince in pain. Dogs could be heard howling in the distance, animals panicking and cats yowling.

The multitude of vines curled into a single formation and hovered over the trio. A glowing, orange fruit hung from the end of the curling tendril. The fruit peeled open to reveal the shriveled form of a mummified corpse. It hung loosely from the seed, vines coming to twist around its body. Its gaping mouth and open sockets dripped with the contents of the fruit's flesh and its skin seemed to regenerate some color from its original grey-brown hue.

Silence once again hung in the air.

"W-what is that thing?" Kokoa cried out in sheer panic. The plant itself was now filled with life energy, and the corpse it hung like a stringed puppet did as well.

_Eeeriiiyaaahhhhh!_

The corpse wailed. Kahlua swallowed and positioned her feet against the earth. She could feel the energy that poured from this beast. It must have been lying dormant and drawing power from the land and everything else around it.

"It seems the former master was unable to find place in heaven or hell, still attached to the things of this world." Miyabi snapped his fingers and the two vampires charged the demon plant.


	10. Seeds of Autumn

**Chapter 10: Seeds of Autumn**

The plant much behaved like a Kudzu vine and the ends of many of the curls were dotted with purple flowers reminiscent of lilacs.

_Eeeriiiyaaahhhh! Rrrretuuuuurn my tooooome!_

The corpse wailed as the plant shook and pulled itself from the ground. It stood over 3 meters tall and its glowing orange fruit, which held the corpse, was connected to a thick, barbed stalk that was held up by curls of the vine's runners, mimicking legs. It carried a tail of vine that was flowered with the Kudzu petals. Its body continued to thicken, proving the deadly growing speed of a Kudzu. The flowers themselves are known to grow rapidly and consume every bit of land in sight and mature by autumn time. It seemed this one was just a little late.

Kokoa and Kahlua charged the plant beast. Kokoa crossed to the left and Kahlua to the right. The beast had twisted itself around to sweep its massive tail into the ground, but the two vampiresses took their paths just in time. The force of the appendage crashed down onto the ground and sent quakes across the flat land. Soot shook free from the earth and rose into the air which create a thick, black cloud that filled the early dawn of the field of death. Kokoa gripped the neck of her weapon and slid to a stop. The younger vampire shifted her weight on her heels until she turned enough to be poised right at the plant demon's supporting limbs.

Kahlua raced up the demon's side with the skill of an assassin as she should carry. Her heels did little to deter her assault as she used the thick needle projections from the plant's flesh as the perfect steps to vault herself higher to the beast's head. She reached up and grabbed at one of the earrings that sat hooked into the lobes of her ears. Tears forced their way into the elder vampire's eyes and she wept for the act she was about to commit transcended cruelty. With the removal of the demon's seal, the vampire's left arm reverted to a horrifying _true state._ This was the power that slept inside of Shuzen Kahlua, and perhaps was of similar power that had laid beneath the Rosary of her sealed sister. Kahlua, though not to the extent of the youngest, loved Moka. The very _thought_ that one of these things had hurt her when she could not defend herself, brought the elder sister agony.

Anger flowed through the youngest.

Kahlua's arms twisted and deformed as her fingers elongated and flesh stretched between them, only to spawn several more similar forms. These tiny wings that multiplied on her arms glistened whenever specks of sunlight would penetrate the ashen cloud. The bat-like wings were razor sharp and had the ability to cut through stone. When Kahlua dug her bladed wings into the plant demon's side to rend it, its head turned slightly. Its flexible, almost serpentine body, coiled so the corpse faced Kahlua.

The rotted flesh took the brunt of the youkai's attack. With a deep slurping, squelch: the vampire's bladed wings dug into the thick flesh of the mummified corpse. Below Kokoa forced the Bell Hammer into the leg of vines. The vibration of the attack traveled up through the system of vines and into the corpse. The dangling carcass let out a piercing yell as Kahlua pulled her blades through, but the force of the corpse's shriek sent a shiver spilling through the youkai's body and rattled her bones to the tips of her toes. The grating sound fractured the solid tips of wings, forcing Kahlua to quickly withdraw them, lest lose her weapon of choice.

The bake-bake bat was unable to withstand the scream and reverted to its natural form. Kokoa staggered back and Kahlua was forced to leap from its body as more vines shot from its main form. The light-haired vampire landed on the ground, among the swirling clouds of black. Kokoa coughed as more soot was billowed up by a gust of chilled wind. A gunshot broke through the silence.

_Eeeriiiyaaahhh!_

The demon staggered back and broke through the cloud, which began to quickly dissipate thanks to the growing winds. When the two vampires looked back they saw Miyabi settled among some debris behind the scope of a sniper rifle he carried in the trunk of the car. The sisters looked up and watched as the beast flailed about, trying to hold the wound at the forefront of its fruit, which bled out an indescribable ooze that was flesh colored. The demon fell against the line of forest that separated the Ranch and the city of Kamakura. It stabilized its standing there, but now more profusely bled from its peeled back fruit flesh, which mimicked an open mouth. The corpse hung from vines that curled out from this particular orifice. Its head turned to face the trio, its head awkwardly tilted at a disturbing angle as it rasped out audibly, cold air ghosting from its lips.

_You will all die, and become puppets of nature... just as I..._

A long hiss of air escaped its throat, only for the body to lurch and have similar flesh colored ooze retch from its open mouth and hollowed eyes, clear into the ash covered ground.

Morning finally arrived and the stench of rotting plant matter filled the air. With the sun in the sky the ground was lit up enough for the group to see. Kahlua, Kokoa and Miyabi could only silently stare across the fields which were once covered with nothing but death.

"Miyabi-kun?" Kahlua questioned as she stepped back and looked to her superior. The man had stood and pushed his cold hands into the warmer pockets of his trench coat.

Kokoa narrowed her eyes and stepped to Kahlua's side. "It was waiting for us...?" the young vampire questioned.

"Anyone..." Miyabi responded. "It wasn't as strong as the other Helians and Dragons, it only faked its power using the corpse of the old witch."

"I-it wanted to die?" Kahlua wiped the tears from her eyes as she replaced her Rosary limiter to her ear. Miyabi reached out and removed a splotch of the ooze that had landed on the front of Kahlua's dress. He held it up to the girls.

"It was looking for a way to spread its seeds. It was merely a catalyst." The businessman flicked the gunk from his fingertips, annoyed that they were tricked into committing something so obvious, like defeating a powerful enemy.

"A catalyst to what?" Kokoa asked, but she received no answer from either. She furrowed her brows and clenched her fists at her sides. Koumori, her pet bake-bake landed on her shoulder and squeaked to his master, worried by her trembling form. "What...what about onee-sama?" She tried to fight the tears for they were proof of her worry, proof of her sister's weakness. The red-haired demon looked up to her older sister. "What about onee-sama, Kahlua-nee?" She nearly shouted.

Kahlua could not bring herself to such a reality. In truth Moka was sealed and the young vampire had carried a much stronger seal than she. Unsealed at least Kahlua could put up a monstrous fight, but not Moka... But she couldn't break her baby sister's heart like that, she needed that hope for what was to come.

The seeds were already taking root. Miyabi called in for an extermination team to burn the seeds, praying they weren't as resilient as the Dragon strain to fire.


	11. Dreamscape

**Chapter 11: Dreamscape**

Tsukune slept beside his lover, untouched by the roving man eaters that filled the hollowed out tree from roots to canopy. Their cries were heard across the Kansai region and never let up, except for the early touches of dawn. At the break of morning the plants would gather in what the residents of the Prefecture find a haunting ritual in which the demon plants call to the skies, perhaps calling for their brethren. Some say they mourn for the dead, while others say they send kami from the lands.

Tsukune lay on his side in little more than what remained of his shirt and his blood stained jeans. His bare chest lay pressed against the equally bared back of Ruby, who slept in his protective embrace, her nude body protected from the open air by nothing more than his cloak and arm, pressed just over her naked chest.

In the silence of the vine covered room one could easily hear the groans and creaks of the building as it was constricted by the vines in the cold wintery month. It was often dank after the dawn. The dew that condensed on the surface of the outer trunk, often dripped in through the cracks of concrete created by the overgrown roots and vines. Animals that habited the nooks and crannies did not seem unnerved by the demonic plants, seeing as their sole source of prey was human life.

The activities of the night prior left the lovers exhausted. While the pair slept, the hanabake did not. They constantly worked. Outside none could see the works of the inner holds. The dark green workers slithered soundlessly across the paths of roots. They would take budding flowers and bury their heads into the closed blossoms and cross pollinate between the individual forms. The flowers had a dark, black coloration and when they were mature they would grow gourd fruits of various colorations like which would be gathered by the man-eaters and carried into various parts of the mother plant.

As the little ones dashed throughout the inner trunk of the tree Samhain padded along, occasionally hissing as they brushed passed her. She pushed her authority among them as when her precious one slept, they continued their duties. The witch was young and though she carried a strength within her, she could not control the sheer mass of hanabake that currently existed in the Prefectures. The red-fleshed hanabake, known as Samhain, was born of nightmares. A twisted creation warped between flesh and plant seemed to hold a consciousness above that an average hanabake.

She slithered her way into the room where the two slept. Her long, flower tipped tail danced just inches off the ground and her claws raked against the ground as she dragged her weight across the room. The massive head of the plant demon snuffled against the ground, its rounded nose brushing against the fanned out strands of ebony which belonged to the witch. With a disgusted huff it proudly raised its head, its tail mimicking the flagging motion of a rag in the wind. Samhain tilted its tendon filled neck and turned to face Tsukune. It often seemed ill content with the witch's presence, but when it came to Tsukune, it was obvious he was her master. She could not help that lingering feeling deep within her. It was as if he always watched over her.

Samhain brushed her muzzle along Tsukune's warm cheek. With a soft hiss, she sat itself by Tsukune's body. Her defined tendons twitched under her clear anticipation. She watched the rise and fall of his chest that came with every breathe. Rattling rolls of purring growls escaped the plant demon's chest. Her tail coiled up behind her like a snake preparing to strike. The purple blossom at the end of her tail bloomed and revealed the inner patterns of yellow. The long stigmas within the mouth of the blossom curled and twisted. A soft hiss escaped Samhain's throat as she hovered the blossom over Tsukune's head. The stigma curled into her master's messy mane of dark hair and dug into his flesh.

Samhain gave pause when Tsukune moved, but he merely shifted to pull Ruby closer to his body. The blood-fleshed demon clenched its jaws together and completed attaching its flower to the back of Tsukune's head.

_It was the first time the plant demon had used this power. Deep down she was aware of her possession of it. It took time, practice. There were so may unfortunate victims in her path to perfection. Her stigma would bore into her victims skulls, the painlessness associated with it was a practiced touch. When the tips of the flower pressed to the cushioning liquid that surrounded the brain she could give off non-lethal electrical currents, another practiced skill that came with the loss of many a subjects. These currents allowed her to manipulate the brain into releasing endorphins, dopamine and other chemicals controlled by a functioning brain. _

_It gave her mind's eye, the ability to crawl within the scape of another. She was no longer in the surrounding peace of her home, but instead she stood in a dark, fire lit room. The flickering light of the flame bled into the room, and filled it with a deep copper hue. The crackling shadows of the flames danced along the copper rusted tools that sat along worn, wooden benches. Swaying in the darkness above head were silver hooks, stained with age and use. Slurping crunches echoed through the open space, the furnace that carried the fire crackled as the flame fed from its hearth. _

_Sitting hunched in front of the fire, in nothing but a school uniform, was a young man, no older than fifteen. Beneath the tables, twisting around the splintered, wooden legs were dark, purple creatures that resembled giant centipedes. Between their mandibles they chewed and crunched on bone and meat. The male turned to face the two nude forms that stood behind him. They stood hand in hand, their brightly colored eyes glowed against the light filtered by the roaring flames. _

_One had violet eyes and long pointed ears. Leathery, demonic wings hung from her back, a tail coiled up with an flat, arrowhead shape. She had shoulder length hair, which framed her round, blushing face. The other woman stood a few inches taller than the other. She had long silver hair and blood red eyes. In the ruby-eyed woman's free hand she held a silver Rosary which hung from linked chains that connected to a torn, leather collar. The young man's face was blank, no eyes, no nose, no mouth... no indication of a face except the hollows where these organs would lie. _

_He was once again facing the fire, the yellow flames lighting non-existent forms on his flesh. The woman seemed to lean against his back and snake their arms over his shoulder. He stared into the fire where he could see the women's reflections. The flames jumped out at him, but he did not flinch. When the pyre died down somewhat a new image burned against the charcoal black and wispy orange licks of heat. There he could see the drooling fangs of his precious Samhain._

"_Samhain?" His voice called throughout the room in echoes, punctuated by the clanks of the hanging hooks._

_The girls crossed their free arms over the other so that they could place their palms on the opposite of the male's cheek. They turned and kissed his warm flesh._

"_Of course Tsukune..." The violet eyed woman agreed._

"_Our precious Tsukune..." The silver-haired one cooed into his ears._

"_We will always be by your side..." The mauve-eyed demoness breathed haughtily into his ear, her cold breath snaking through the air._

_The female to his right grinned, fangs bore to reveal her seductive and hungry smile. "Even though we can no longer speak to you with our words..."_

"_Our dreams are enough." The winged demoness agreed._

"_Won't you have us, our precious Tsukune?" The ruby-eyed devil charmed._

"_Just until we're whole again?" The blue-haired one chuckled._

_Before the male could respond, the two demons chuckled and slowly began to undo his clothing. The flames in the furnace petered out, nothing but a cold, smoldering pit of ash. Their hands caressed his body and their fingers traveled along his flesh in a tempting dance of lust. The two demons would have the man's flesh in any way they could._


	12. Deceit of Reality

**Chapter 12: Deceit of Reality**

_The two demons peeled away the faceless young man's clothes piece by piece. Each shred of cloth was tossed into the furnace, feeding the newly born blaze of the hearth. He could only vainly struggle as the two demoness pushed him to the ground. The one with silver hair held him with a strength only comparable to metal chains. Both women had been completely bare at the start, but now his body lay vulnerable to their preoccupations. He, at first, was willing to be pulled down into the familiarly, though slightly uncomfortable, feeling. Their hands begged to be held, their touches whispered words of lust, as their eyes ate at his pale flesh. Though the young man had no face, muscles contorted and twisted as he struggled to call out through the mask of skin. _

"_Know your place Tsukune, understand there's no need to fight this..." The silver-haired demon's voice was like a knife running down the length of his spine. Her mouth acted to control the male's struggles. _

_She had laid her weight on his legs, her firm, warm chest pressed to his bare flesh. Her elbows worked to hold down on his knees as her tongue teased the object of her affection, which was held tightly in the grip of her right hand. The touch sent a violent surge of electricity through the male's nerves. He shifted to surge forward, but his actions were halted when the smaller demon placed her hands on his shoulders and weighted him down further. Her wings were spread over her head, her pointed ears twitched whenever the strands of blue silk would brush against them. She stared down at his faceless mask. _

_Just touching him would send shivers down the winged one's spine and urge goosebumps to rise along the length of her skin. She moaned out as she pulled herself so she now straddled just above the young man. Her long, purple tail was curled back, held in the air, and she sat on her knees. The blue-haired temptress hovered herself over the male sighed at the cold pants that escaped the cover that guarded him from his nightmares. The silver-haired youkai continued her activity with great fervor, allowing her fangs to occasionally graze the hyper sensitive flesh._

"_Come now, my precious one..." The winged one whispered. Though the fire blazed within the furnace their breathes escaped against the cold touch of this surreal existence that crossed between life and death. "Open your mouth, let this one have her way." She gasped out when a lick of his breath grazed the between of her legs._

_She shook, and nearly collapsed. She was saved by catching her hands on the ground beside the male's head. The ruby-eye demon's actions caused the male beneath them to writhe and squirm in euphoria. _

"_Open, please..." The mauve-eyed femme begged as she slowly ground her hips against the air._

_Beneath her the mask of skin over the male's expressions pulled and twisted like plastic against the flat of a hot iron. The peeling skin seemed to bleed as it ripped open to reveal a mouth that helplessly gasped for air. The demoness working tirelessly between the male's legs glanced up. Her slitted pupils danced in the now revealed rounds of the human's copper eyes. She removed her mouth, being sure to pull the excess saliva with her with an exiting pop. A grin, reminiscent of evil, drew across her lips as they curled upward in a mocking expression. There she held his sacred, most vulnerable body part in her hands, and between her fangs. He certainly would have to had trust her to allow this, wouldn't he? Her eyes seemed to question his resolution, than taunt it when she would slowly run her tongue along the top of it. He could feel her purr with every pass, the low growls mimicking the pleased sound a cat would make when she had her prey skewered in her claws._

_The male looked up to the demon that hovered above his face. Her soft, sparkling eyes begged for his consent. He slowly opened his mouth, but instead of his first assumption, the demoness' tail curled into his offered orifice. The haunting expression of lust that painted the blue-haired youkai's face broke into an open field of rapture. The male choked a bit when she pushed the length of tail into his mouth, but she quickly let up when some level of consciousness returned to her. She could feel every tooth in his mouth, every individual papillae along his taste buds. The very thought he could taste her and she could feel him taste her sent her near that edge of ecstasy. The blue haired demon pulled back her wings and looked back to her partner._

_The ruby-eyed demon sighed and settled herself into a sitting position where she now straddled the male's legs. Her pale cheeks were dusted pink. Her skin had gathered a thin layer of sweat that her luxurious silk tresses now stuck to. The blood that poured from the face mask over the male pushed the demoness into the mood. She held the male firmly and teased her own satisfaction. Her cries were more reserved as the pleasure that filled her poured out. With a slow, deliberate motion she lined her hips up along her prize. Ignoring the pain the demoness pushed on, swallowing her reward whole. _

_A year of watching her enemy take him over and over again, it was now her turn to bask in the glory. And how glorious it was to take what was rightfully hers to begin with. The fact she was sharing that glory gave her a smug sort of satisfaction that she was choosing what would and will be. Her body sped up as this new, overwhelming feeling consumed her being. Both demons stepped over that edge that blinded their sight with a whiteness that made them feel as if they had died once again. The silver-haired demoness held place for several moments before she lifted from the male and lay on her back, her hands cupped between her legs. Her chest heaved against the pants of her constricted lungs. _

_The winged demon slowly pulled her tail from the male's mouth. The appendage dripped with the attention it was lavished with by the particular orifice. She curled her tail between her legs and sighed at the invasive feeling that carried the still remnant tingles of her previous pleasure. The demoness sat up, her face flushed with passion and a hint of embarrassment against her overindulgent actions. She stood to her feet, the male too exhausted and strained to move, his lust having yet to go down even after. _

"_Poor Tsukune, shall I take care of that for you?" The winged demoness teased and ran her fingers along his exposed affections. _

_A strangled groan left his mouth, the smaller demon having had sunk herself on the organ. Her tail flicked the slick from its surface, the sudden spike of pleasure visibly coursing throughout her body. She spread out her wings as she rode the male, the other demoness still struggling for breathe and glancing into the copper eyes that gazed into her blood red ones. Her hands still visibly played against her shame as the other demoness took the male._

"_I'll make Tsukune feel good." She moaned just as the male did. "Ne, Tsukune?"_

Tsukune moaned out, his body shuddering as it gave way to the feelings once again. He held Ruby close to his body, his unconscious motions had since stirred her awake. Samhain stood behind the male, her tail still pressed to his head and one of her vines having had snaked into what was left of the male's pants. The demon plant held its fang-filled mouth open slightly as it wheezed out, green ooze nearly pouring from its mouth. It slithered the coated vine from her master's pants. The witch laid stock still as the demon, whom she could never seem to control, wandered about them as they slept.

Samhain curled her tail into the air and paraded itself around the couple toward the exit. The black-eyed witch glared at the man-eating beast. It had taken the essence of _her _master without permission, but what could she say? Samhain seemed to listen to no other but Tsukune. The beast held its head proudly. Its throat flexed against the growling sounds that bubbled out in airy hisses through the stretches of muscle that bound around its thick neck. Such power in her jaws alone the demon had no need to use its claws, which could easily slice through steel. The vine slowly curled back into the demon, slipping under her belly and quickly being contained by the red, plant-like matter of her abdomen. Samhain hissed out at Ruby and slithered out of the room with purpose.


	13. To Pull off the Devil's Wings

**Chapter 13: To Pull off the Devil's Wings**

"Tsukune?" A gentle voice stirred the young human awake. The dream from the night before left him muddled, but he was sure it was a sign from kami. He had to fix the errs of his past. His current works were not yet enough to repair the sin in his heart nor enough to clean the blood that stained his hands.

His copper brown eyes fluttered open to the dark haze that filled the room. He looked up to see the pale, loving features of the ebony haired witch whom he shared his bed with. He sat himself up and pulled the tattered cloak from his lap. He rubbed his hands through his hair and felt as Ruby stepped around him and knelt down. He felt as a damp cloth wiped his skin clean of day before.

"I had the most riveting vision Ruby." He proclaimed in a thrilled voice. The witch slowly wiped the crevices she felt on the surface of his skin that outlined his bones and muscle. She took note of how malnourished he looked due to the many sleepless nights, but today his eyes were brighter.

Had it perhaps been due to Samhain's intervention? She could not speak against the red-fleshed demon plant. Tsukune held her in great regard, for he believed she still contained the soul of her past life. If that is what her master believed, who was she to question it? But with jealousy burning her chest, she had to ask, to make sure that it was truly his wish. She lowered her eyes, and the cloth to her lap.

"Tsukune-san..." The young human turned to face his lover. His brows were furrowed in concern. He reached up and placed his warm hand against her cooler cheek, encouraging her to speak.

"Ruby? What's wrong?" His voice was gentle, supporting. Hearing how much love he had for her, she felt somewhat ashamed for feeling this way. It was silly, he had possibly loved them first. This jealousy had been what made him hurt so in the first place.

"Last night...Samhain was here." Her voice locked up in her throat, but she had to persevere, and explained to Tsukune what it was she had seen.

After the explanation Tsukune seems more overjoyed than angered. He stood, Ruby followed and pulled a clean shirt over his shoulders. The witch walked around her master and buttoned his shirt as he spoke.

"This is exactly the sign we needed! Samhain wants to be with me, she has forgiven me, but we must complete everything!" His heart was elated at the idea that Samhain had forgiven his transgressions. Ruby was happy for her master's joy, at least he would not leave her, and this she was sate with.

"Damn it Kiria!" Miyabi slammed his palms against the hybrid's desk. Miyabi and the girls had returned after the demon plant's rampage on the former Ranch property.

Authorities had come in droves and troops come to be known as Firespitters, walked about the land with flamethrowers and struggled to incinerate any evidence of demon seed from the land. The neighboring city, or what remained of the city of Kamakura, was gripped in terror. Fairy tale had returned to their land and desecrated the sacred grounds of the kami that watched over the earth. The authorities and Firespitters were met with respite and an enraged horde of survivors.

"_Leave this land!" _the impoverished screamed. "_Let the dead rest!"_ they would demand.

Screams had broken out in the crowds as droves of hanabake broke from the treeline and charged the officers and flameworkers. The officers worked for several precincts in Japan that have yet to be overrun by the demon scourge, and some were personal guard that worked for Fairy Tale. The human population watched and wailed as the guardians of their kami fed on the enemy. They had warned them and could only watch as the plants dragged those they did not maul bloody or eat, toward the dark tree that towered over the burned remains of Kamakura.

"You'll just sit there and smirk? This isn't something you can simply challenge! These things have a high thought process, someone is definitely controlling them and is anticipating our _every _move!" The girls waited outside of Kiria's office and could hear Miyabi shouting, as he had been for the last hour.

Hokuto sat behind his desk with a newspaper in hand, dated back to last year. It was the last paper printed before the demon plants overtook Kansai. The front page read with a disturbing header: _**The True End of the World**_. Many disbelieved the day would come, but those who fervently prepared were now laughing at their neighbors as they were dragged from their homes by the demon scourge.

A smirk played at Kiria's lips. Miyabi sneered at the fiend with contempt. The hybrid waved his hand dismissively at the male. "You worry far too much . Did you really think I was not prepared for this? They have had their fun and I have had mine. I now know what the Helian are capable of and will take the measures to destroy their nest." The white-haired ayashi turned his office chair slightly and pressed a small button hidden by the drawer of the desk.

The empty wall in the office slid open to reveal the still working monitors that watched over the 7th Division building. The views ranged from the top of streetlights and aerial views from neighboring buildings that still had some remnants of power.

"There is still power in several blocks of land in Kamakura to power these cameras." Kiria explained in a clam, knowing voice. "All the cameras inside the building have been destroyed, yet power is still being fed in meaning the Helian have not destroyed the sections of power with their rooting tendencies." The ayashi turned to face Miyabi as the wall lowered the cover the screens once again. "Taking into consideration that there is indeed a sentient being at work here, through what we have learned from a Otonashi Sun, at the price of keeping her family safe from the hanabake, their leader is possibly an ayashi that can take a human form." Kiria handed Miyabi a sheet of paper.

The businessman looked over the image. It was a profile picture done using the broken descriptions of Marin during her recovery in the hospital.

"This is...?"

"Indeed." Kiria stood. "We have collected data throughout the districts and discovered that this description fits the identity of a young male said to be seen at Jogakuin High just a few days before the attacks. The male was said to have vanished from the school dorms, reported missing a day before the attack. Can you guess who his dorm partner was?"

Miyabi looked down and glanced over his shoulder. The girls still say outside. He was sure they could hear with their demonic senses. Miyabi lowered his eyes. "Akashiya Moka..."

"How intuitive of you Fujisaki!" Kiria cooed maliciously and folded his arms behind his back. "Though we have yet to obtain more information on the male, as it seems his records have been tampered with... if we find this boy..."

"We find the source of the hanabake." Miyabi admitted.

"Hokuto and I will be going to the 7th Division with a group of Firespitters and the remaining battalions. We will confront this hanabake leader." After Kiria finished speaking they could here commotion just outside.

"Kokoa-chan, clam down please!" Kahlua pleaded as the red-haired demon fought to free herself from her sister's deadly hug.

"Let me go Kahlua-nee! If I don't save onee-sama who will! It isn't fair that you do this to me! It's _**your **_fault she had gone in the first place!" She accused with a venomous hiss. This forced the elder vampire to release her sister, the pain of the words striking her heart. "If you didn't convince daddy she should live with humans-!"

"I only did it for Moka-chan!" Kahlua defended as tears filled her eyes. "She wanted to be normal...she wanted what Akuha-nee and I couldn't have!"

But no words could stop the younger girl who was not filled with vehement rage. She stormed off. Miyabi glared at Kiria and left the room to go talk to the older woman. Kahlua stood to her feet as Miyabi neared. The vampire fell into his arms and sobbed. Kiria stepped out into the open room and looked to Hokuto who lowered the newspaper. The young, black-haired male grinned at his partner with knowing.

"Is it that time already?" Hokuto smirked. Kiria nodded and chuckled as he brushed back his bangs.

"We will take down their fortress, and take the witch for our own."


	14. Your Lord Is Not My God

**Chapter 14: Your Lord Is Not My God**

A heavy wind blew across the dark streets of Kamakura. The only thing that lit the roads the soldiers traveled across were the roots of the monster plant which snaked through the concrete roads, creating massive ruptures and vales broken into the slabs. The lights appeared to be nothing more than the fluorescent fruits that the plant sprouted. They were of various shapes and sizes, but all had a distinct greyish-yellow hue, much like a gourd. Vehicles could not cross the territory into Kansai.

What was left of any car or truck unlucky enough to have been on the road or had stupidly braved the empty roadways of the former metropolitan were met with a disastrous fate. All along the jagged streets were broken down vehicles that had become ensnared by roots and vines. Their bodies had rusted over time, parts missing, having been taken by survivors in the area as resources the people believe were provided by the plants. The soldier's steps echoed through the city as they followed Kiria and Hokuto, who stood in the front lines.

The pair led their men into a war they had prepared for nearly a year to combat. Their enemies were slowly consuming their land, their homes and no one had successfully stopped them. So long as it remained a Japanese problem, no others would "openly" aide a war against an unknown enemy. Soldiers that marched in the front lines carried heavy flamethrowers and wore protective suits that also served to shield them from the bitter winter that consumed the Prefecture.

Ever since the hanabake rooted their presence in this land, it seemed to grow colder by the day and the sun seemed to grow more fearful of offering the demon plants its warmth. The flank consisted of well armed troops of ayashi and other youkai mix, many offered by Shuzen himself prior to the attack at the Ranch, that was now being called the Tomb of Jakkurantan. Many of the seeds could not be destroyed, especially with the _Survivors _pushing into the way of the attacks.

Tsukune sat upon the roof of the 7th Division, enthroned on a low bed of vines, on which he spread across like a bench. His dark cape slung over his shoulders to protect his body from the cold, arms spread out over along the spine of the vines in a relaxed position. His messy hair danced against the high wind of the tower. The massive orb of fruit that hung above Tsukune let off a strong light, much like the other fruits it grew, but this one was comparable to the size of a small elephant, and possibly weighing as much. The light played with the shadows that twisted among the swirls of plant and concrete, creating dynamic forms that moved whenever the wind blew. At the edge of the building, Samhain paced anxiously, occasionally hissing at the feeling of the killing intent flowing from her enemy. All over the towering plant did hanabake gather.

Ruby approached Tsukune and bowed deeply to her precious master. In her hand she held her staff with curled like the roots of an oak, and at its head gripped a smooth orb of violet. Satoru sat perched upon the orb and flapped his wings to keep balance upon the swaying artifact.

"Our enemy is upon us." Ruby declared in a calm voice. Tsukune sat up and held out his hand.

He offered it to the witch and bid her to rise her head. She did so and stepped toward her lover. She had momentarily glanced toward Samhain, but the plant demon did not regard her, its attention upon what was left of the streets below. The human took the witch's hand into his and bestowed a kiss upon her flesh. The man-eating plant paused in step and lifted its head, before it quickly slithered its way toward Tsukune. It looked to him with great wonder. Tsukune leaned down and placed a kiss upon the plant's snout.

"This is where we make our stand." Tsukune stood as the sound of helicopter blades seemed to whirl above their head.

When he, Ruby and Samhain turned to look two massive Dragon hanabake fluttered down toward the roof. Their wings beat that that of a humming bird. The flaps kicked up loose debris upon the roof, the pair choosing to settle upon the hanging vines with their agile forms. Tsukune held out his hand, motioning his command. Samhain hissed and turned to face the two before she let out a shriek. The Dragon pair were the seeders for the Dragon clutches, the pair born from the two ayashi involved in the attack on the widow. With their orders the two dragons leapt off the vines and glided down toward the ground.

"Tsukune-san...?" Ruby called in gentle question. Tsukune nodded in conviction.

"They have harmed the innocent. No matter who or what it is...Samhain, you may consume them when they have done their job." The human gave the necessary permission and the Helain was soon crawling her way down the side of the tower.

The army owned by Fairy Tale came to a halt but five meters from the Division Headquarters. The soldiers were shocked by what they saw. Men and women, armed and clothed with anything they could scavenge. They occupied the HQ's courtyard and stood between the soldiers and the tower. Hokuto looked to Kiria who gave a disinterested shrug. The young man stepped forward and pushed his thin, wire glasses back against his nose.

"We are Fairy Tale." The man clearly and loudly announced. His voice easily carried across the noiseless city with eerie echoes that dragged up the spine. "We have come to eradicate the demon scourge that has put your city into this state." His brows furrowed and he shot his hand up to catch a stray rock, of which he crushed in his grip.

"_Leave this land!"_ An older man called in anger as he readied another stone. "_This land belongs to our kami, do not tempt his wrath with your foolishness!"_ He demanded.

"We have come to rid you of this demon, there is no need to fear it anymore and hide behind it so!" Hokuto urged. He wanted to be quick and disperse the people for he knew Kiria would not spare them if he grew bored of the talks. With a glance over his shoulder, Hokuto was assured Kiria was still amused. "These demons stand no chance!"

"_You did nothing for us before except call kami's anger! We suffer because __of you! The land is dead because of your greed! Only kami provides for us in a land that no longer will!" _The man accused, and the horde of Survivors agreed.

The citizens charged, ready to defend their lands. Hokuto had no choice. He removed his glasses and placed them into the pocket on his lapel.

* * *

In the demon world, things were becoming just as heated. They could not sit by as these beasts ruined a thousand years of work in but one. Shuzen Issa was the father to Akashiya Moka who had been missing since the attacks. His youngest daughter, Shuzen Kokoa, had informed him of Kiria's information. He went to the man he had trusted to protect his little girl from her enemies, only for some unknown factor to take her from him. The demon lord stood tall, his black, wavy hair loosely hanging over his face. He slammed down a folder which spewed several accusatory papers. They held information on Aono Tsukune and several other girls.

"You had this all planned? This is how you planned to protect her? Protect this world from that curse?" Shuzen's voice carried through the dark room in which they sat.

Behind the large desk was seated an older man wearing a veil of white robes over his body, eyes hidden by a loose hood. He folded his gloved hands on the top of his desk and lowered his head. He glanced to the pictures and stayed silent for several moments.

"_I had seen a cloud rise over the young man_." he paused and looked away. "_Instead of bringing the two of them here and allow fate to intervene, I had sent Akashiya away to prevent this cloud from reaching her, but fate yet still intervened_._ Fate has decided what she will do with the boy_." He looked to Shuzen.

They locked eyes for several seconds before the Vampire Lord relented and stood down.

Shuzen allowed his arms to fall to his sides and looked to the old man with knitted brows. "That boy has gained the status of kami in such a short time. I cannot stand by while he destroys the world we took generations to build. I will wait a day. If Fairy Tale fails to defeat him..." Shuzen turned and left.


	15. A Ghost in the Past

**Chapter 15: A Ghost in the Past**

The people battled against the enemy of their kami. Their lands had been razed, trampled upon and invaded by these men who called themselves Fairy Tale. In truth many could recall when it had began. It was when these men came into Kamakura searching for land, a land that did not belong to them. After the Kansai incident many companies left Fairy Tale's side, saying it was would be their ruin. Their greed led them to take up undeveloped marks of land and build upon them as they pleased. They relocated families and transported many shrines from their old resting places. It was a dark karma wrought upon their greed that many suffered for. Less than a year and there are those that say the hanabake were born from Fairy Tale's lust to rape the land and enslave free earth. For every flower they stomped on, for every tree they tore out from its roots a hanabake would take a person until the debt was paid.

The field of battle blazed with fires and the screams of man standing against man. Blood pooled almost endlessly as the demon plants watched from their hiding places. Hisses of the offending demons rang through the grunts of effort and the howls of pain. The Dragon hanabake sat perched upon overhanging vines that seemed to branch out from the forests of trees that cropped up all over the surrounding area. These trees were merely the standing roots of the great plant that was now considered the center of the Kansai region. As the battle rolled through men were systematically left to bleed out on pikes sharpened from old street signs or left to die against the street curbs with their skin melting against their bones.

The mass of humans did well to feed blood to the earth.

Hokuto's body had taken a demonic form. In the midst of battle his human form twisted and grew to nearly triple its original size. Standing meters tall his size rivaled that of the surrounding trees. His chest became conclave as his body took on a pale white coloration. From is sides his ribcage seemed to peel from his sunken in flesh and form into extra limbs which were tipped with deadly scythe edges the length of thresher blades. The majority of his weight was carried with a pair of arms while the others cut away enemies like ripened crops. The members of Fairy tale that were true ayashi transformed, quickly proving to the Survivors that the ranks of men among Fairy Tale were true demons.

"Hokuto!" Kiria called from his place outside of battle. The massive, sickle wielding ayashi slammed his blade down a man, splitting him in half, blood erupted in all directions and splattered against the pale attacker. He turned to his partner with a curious glance. "I'm going to find this _kami_ of theirs." The white-haired ayashi snapped his book closed as a smirk pulled at his lips.

The entire time he had been watching the enemy movements. They held the advantage and easily outnumbered them, but one thing he has learned from studying hanabake behaviors was that they were ambush predators and worked along side a hivemind, but one thing he had noticed were the humans. They did not scent of human, but of the plant demons. With no sun crops were impossible to grow, save for a few plants that could survive under the low light conditions of artificial lighting, which would easily explain the blocks of still running electricity. The Survivors were all infected by the hanabake, either by consuming foods contaminated by their seeds or drinking contaminated water. He had seen the red hanabake flee from the top of the plant. Kiria was sure he would find the kami perched there.

The battle continued, the blood soaking into the ground and every body being taken in by stray roots that seemed to have come to life as the chaos progressed. The roots wrapped around the bodies of the dying and sucked the life out of them, leaving behind the shriveled corpses of human and ayashi discarded along the streets of Kamakura. Kiria reached the base of the former Fairy Tale HQ just as the massive red-fleshed hanabake reached the bottom. The fearless ayashi looked into the eyes of the plant demon, but it had refused to regard the fiend and continued her reptilian gait toward the battle. Kiria looked up to where the massive fruit hung from the greater demon tree.

The white-haired ayashi formed a large scythe-shaped mass from his body and gently grasped the handle of his weapon and cut the blade into the root.

"How will our meeting end, kami of the hanabake?" Kiria was wholly entertained by the idea and scaled the demon tree with no effort.

Samhain pivoted and snaked easily around the humans that lived upon her master's grounds. She came to the roots where the two Dragon Helian stood. She craned her head so she looked up to the pair. Samhain's throat inflated as she let out a commanding hiss. The two Dragons spread the dark green leaves that extended along their back's like a dragonfly's wings. They shook their bodies and fluffed the white manes that curled around their collars. Their wings began to flap and vibrate against the air which created a deafening hum that stunned both enemies and allies alike.

These white forms were much like the fluff of a milkweed and held massive amounts of pollen. The force of the wings sent a spray of the Dragon's seeds over the air, contaminating it. Those who were already infected by the hanabake seeds would not suffer, but the ayashi and humans among the men of Fairy Tale broke into fits of coughing which led to projectile vomiting. The Survivors praised the blessing of their lord and cheered at those turned, many continued to kill those of Fairy Tale in their excitement. Many were beheaded or run through with the primitive weaponry of the Survivors, and those that were not killed, were captured.

Even Hokuto succumb to the coughing but he was too large and fought off the Survivors. Suddenly several roots ensnared his hackles and extra arms. He looked back, only to cleave away many of the trapping roots in one sweep, but when he turned back to face the fighting he was speared in the chest by a stray piece of metal thrown by a Survivor. Hokuto looked down to his chest, than back up. Samhain sat on her haunches and stared at the young man. The red-fleshed demon's body shook with vibrating hisses. It was as if she was laughing at him. Almost as if to say, _You dare to stand against us?_ Hokuto felt the roots digging into his skin and drawing away his energy. It would end like this? So easily? He looked to the plant demon.

_Don't worry. _

He heard in his mind as the roots dug deeper.

_Your loyalty will be rewarded if it is graced upon my master. Your human body will fade, leaving only the eternal presence of plant life. You will no longer be alone. _

With those words spoken Hokuto's vision faded out and his body slumped to the ground.

Kiria soon reached the top and met face to face with the Hanabake King. He lay sprawled out on a twist of vines, his rust colored eyes melting against the darkness of the sky. His pale skin was evidence of his time spent in under the lifeless skies of Kansai. At his side stood a tall, black-haired woman. In her hand she held a gnarled staff on which upon it stood a raven as dark as the night. The creature's beady eyes sparkled against the light shone from the glowing fruit.

The woman wore a lavender bodice that matched her striking mauve eyes. Her black skirt ran down to her ankles, the pointed tips of her dark boots visible from beneath the slight lift they made against the fabric. She held her head high as she stood in the grace of this man many called a kami. But why? Kiria could not sense any youki from him, nor any killing intent. Was he so powerful that he was sealed? Kiria was brought form his thoughts when the clicking of the witch's heels broke the gentle hums of the winds. She gripped her staff in both hands, Satoru hopping onto his mistress' shoulder, and stared the ayashi down with a fearlessness he had not known of border beings. Could she not sense _his _power? Or was she really as much as these rumors claimed? Kiria gripped his scythe, welcoming the challenge.


	16. The Edge of Insanity

**Chapter 16: The Edge of Insanity**

Tsukune leaned back with his knuckles lazily pressed against his cheek. His elbow sat supported upon the vines that seemed to shift in accordance to his every movement. Kiria motioned his demonic eye in the male's direction, but was sure to keep the witch in his peripheral. Satoru fluffed up, enhancing his already intimidating size. The familiar cawed out sharply and spread out his ebony wings. With a strong jump the raven took off from his perch on his master's shoulder. The raven landed upon the knee of the smirking male. Tsukune motioned his hand to Kiria. So to get to Tsukune he had to get through the witch?

Kiria turned an eye to the young woman and smirked darkly. Ruby cocked her head. Her luxurious onyx hair rained down her back, the two pony tails at either side of her head fell over her shoulders, brushing and tickling the sides of her arms. Kiria turned his scythe so its head pointed toward the ground of roots and the blade up toward the sky. He suddenly felt the ground beneath him shift as the entire plant seemed to come to life. Kiria grunted at the unexpected motion and jumped, but his concentration was broken the moment he minded the motions. The scars along Ruby's shoulder blades seemed to flex and stretch as black ooze poured from the old wounds.

The ooze took the form of feathers that fluttered down her back. Six majestic wings, black as night and tipped with the fluorescent shine of emerald green spread out from the scar and became one with her flesh. Kiria had no idea the witch had these types of powers, but was it transmutation, or was she able to control more than one familiar at a time? Were her belongings enchanted and if so, how many of them? A vine tipped with thorns lashed out, but the white-haired demon's quick thinking allowed him to evade the organic whip. The vine raked violently against its own flesh and writhed in seeming anger of its lost target.

Kiria twisted his wrist and tightened his grip on the long handle of the scythe. The weapon was about six feet in length, the head of the scythe adding an extra six inches to its body. The malicious weapon was bone white, matching the scaled hardness of an insect's carapace, but retaining the color of a shed skin. He quickly shifted his weight back and arched the blade upward. The blade of the weapon seemed to shriek as it cut through the air with such velocity. Suddenly the ayashi was met with unforeseen resistance. The dip that marked the end of the handle and start of the blade had barely caught the witch's staff as it swung down from overhead. He held his place, the ground beneath him still violently twisted as the roots and vines pulled out from beneath him, coiling about like a pit of writhing serpents. Ruby hovered off the ground with her magical form.

The steely mask of determination that held over the witch's face contrasted the glare of the ayashi who clearly did not appreciate being surprised. The force of her downward strike was more than he had expected and put him at an obvious disadvantage on the ground. The unsteady coils arched in attempts to grab him so he was forced to jump away from his opponent. The white-haired demon pulled the scythe down, cutting a notch into the staff in the process, but he was resisted. His eyes shot directly toward the culprit: a vine had wrapped around the handle of his weapon. He would not be outdone by a border being. Kiria was beyond amused. This _kami_ believed himself so great? He would slice the smile from his face and feed it to the plants below.

Below Samhain crawled through the remaining Survivors. Calls of praise brushed against her body. The demon plant had no ears, but it could easily feel the vibrations of words against its skin and the beating hearts of her master's followers. The bloodied humans reached out to touch the flesh of the one who was believed to be kami's hand. They wailed and they offered the bodies of their enemies, but she would not except such sacrifices. Many feared their offerings were not to her pleasure and they backed away to carry the remaining enemy, now allies to the foot of the tree. The base of the tree had become sacred ground for the Survivors. As a passage to adulthood one must venture to the haunting ground that was occupied by the land's kami. If you returned alive you would be accepted into the tribes.

She came upon the vines the two dragons perched upon. The pair folded their wings against their backs and hissed down at the red-fleshed man-eater. Unlike Samhain, the circumstances of the Dragon pairs' creation was far crueler, and according to Tsukune, had deserved it more than she. In a way it stood as a compliment, at least to one still holding a sane continuance. Samhain was anything but. Though she had regained some of her mentality she was still driven by hivemind and driven by her instinct to obey and protect Tsukune as he was _her_ seed. He was the reason she was alive and had food. He alone was the reason she stepped from that dark place into a warm, embracing light. To the beast, her master say they deserved _this_ more than she...enraged the demon.

Samhain pushed onto her hind legs and supported the upper half of her body on the trunk's form. Her long, curling digits dug into the layer of ash-black bark. Her hiss rolled through the air as she threatened the pair above her, calling to them the deed placed upon her by their master. The dragon's white manes fluffed up as they released their own, spine rattling call. It was like the sound of a cicada on a summer day, but the sound of nails dragging across a textured surface scrapped against the flesh of anyone within earshot of the menacing cry which often worked to freeze prey with fear. Samhain's hisses grew into a streamed hiss that cut against the air in a deafening whistle. The red fleshed demon finally opened her massive jaws, and let out a screeching roar before she lunged up at at the two demons.

It was like watching wolves fighting for an alpha position, but far more malicious. Killing intent saturated the air as the larger Helian bit into the large male Dragons. They were no match for her ferocious strength. When the Dragons were overwhelmed by her raw power the pair took to the air and hissed mockingly at her. The red Helian sat curled upon the root. Her hands and claws gripped the form like a monkey to a tree, her tail kept her balance as she looked up. The two buzzed around in circles above head, taunting their former hivemate. Seeing as they were to be killed, they should ostracize themselves from the group, but there was no leaving the nest...

Samhain arched her back as two vines slowly coiled out from her shoulder blades. Her tail cut across the air as the vines thickened and branched out five smaller vines on the vestigial appendage. A viscus mucus began to slowly dripped from near thin veins that webbed out from the smaller vine branches until the entire system of root and vines were interlocked. The mucus ran along the newly formed appendage and thickened, creating a greenish-purple layer of membrane, that stretched across the wing-like form.

Samhain's shoulders stretched as she gave the wings a test flap or two. The debris kicked up by her powerful downstroke shook the root she was perched upon. Survivors dropped to their knees in prayer to their winged prophet. Bonfires were started as the flesh of the newly dead were burned and the turned were reluctantly drawn into chaotic dance, hallucinations violently induced by the spores. Prayers rose into the air.

_**Praise him, oh chinjunokami!**_

_**The Kura Yami no Kumo shields us!**_

_**The hanabake protect!**_

_**While the great Ouhana waters the sun!**_

_**Soon the Sun will set, soon we will be free!**_

_**Destroy the enemies of life!**_

_**The ancestors graves we trample!**_

The red-flesh hanabake took to the air and shrieked as she lurched into the two plants. She managed to wrap herself around the larger of the two and bury her fangs into its neck. She used her powerful jaws to rip its head off, spraying a foul scenting rain of dragon guts into the air. The rotting plant matter was accepted by the Survivors as a reward for defeating their enemy. Samhain made quick work of the first and attacked the second, who had attempted to turn and flee his comrade, but he faired no better against Samhain's mighty claws and jaws.

* * *

**(A/N: Terms)**

**chinunokami:Guardian God**

**Kura Yami no Kumo: Cloud of Darkness**

**Ouhana: (ohana) Flower King**


	17. The Cry Before the Hallowed Eve

**Chapter 17: The Cry Before the Hallowed Eve**

The joyous praise and ominous chants reached the high tops of the mighty plant that hung over Kamakura and grew even in the darkness of the skies. Kiria grunted as he was forced to discard his scythes and leap away from a stroke of the witch's staff. The top of the staff crackled with lightning, and it was no illusion as the young ayashi felt his hair stand up as it was grazed by the attack. For a witch so young to have control of such a wild element spoke volumes of her power. He held out his hands and forced his youki through his body. The human listlessly watched as the demon's fingers coiled into a single form. A hard bony surface formed around his hands as they elongated. The bone soon took the shape of sickle blades and he held them at the ready.

"Why do you waste time with this human?" Kiria spoke out as thunder crackled and jumped through the black clouds above, which was highly odd as it was nearing winter, what storm would cross late October in the Kansai of now? "His kind has persecuted yours for generations!"

Of course the truth to this was everlasting. Humans had once revered witches for their ability to commune with the land and allow the past hunting and gathering tribes of ancient man to survive, but as man gained a greater ability to use and create tools a witches power slowly diminished within the communities, until they were eventually outcaste by the systems. Their practices were looked upon, and all over did man disrespect the power her kin had over the lands which they could meld to their will, by Nature's voice. In some places they were hunted down and murdered, in others there were cast out from their human tribes to survive on their own and even feared by those who knew and once claimed to hold _love_ for them.

Humans were indeed cruel. By the look in the man's eyes, Kiria surmised the human was well aware of this history. The man motioned his hand, though awareness glistened through his eyes, so did determination.

"We are all guilty, but only a spare few are innocent, victims of the past." The chants from the Survivors continued to ring through the dark skies. The ground began to quake and the chorus of shrieking hanabake joined the humans' cries of worship.

Ruby stepped back and gracefully waved her hand across the air. The shadows that swallowed the ground in an infinite swirl of death and life rose from the grounds and began to take form. These amorphous shapes took the guise of ravens which now surrounded Kiria, Tsukune and Ruby. Kiria felt a spike of unfamiliar youki, which nearly brought him to his knees. He watched as Ruby turned her winged back to him. He snarled at being disrespected so easily by the border being, but he kept his cool, but he could feel the killing intent surround him.

His left hand reverted to normal as his right began to twist and reshape. The coil of carapace reached over twelve inches and the end of it erected a sharp blade of skin and bone. His entire right forearm had taken the shape of a scythe. The ayashi would rend the human and witch, it no longer mattered, whatever was being summoned was far stronger than even he could handle.

"You are too late." Tsukune spoke up with a assured tone. Kiria turned to the human, the witch had crossed the barrier of shadow demons to settle herself at the feet of the younger male. She looked up to him with submission and ran her free hand along his clothed legs while her other tightly gripped her artifact. "You alone have perpetrated the final event. You alone, and for that, I now have proof that you do not deserve to live." he smirked, the human smirked!

Kiria had been _tricked_. He had been fooled into starting a war with the Kansai Ouhana! Tsukune smiled warmly, was he mocking Kiria? His gentle eyes held a steely edge, like the perfectly tempered katana blade, but it carried an acceptance of the death of evil through the act of rivaling it. The Ouhana knew he would come take what was rightfully his, he anticipated it and prepared, just as Kiria had prepared for this day. Each of his well mastered plans had all been halted to in place by the Ouhana's defenses. He had been foiled, and Kiria lacked the capacity to fathom it!

The ayashi was _**amused.**_ He was _**overjoyed**_. He had been defeated, strategically.

Though Kiria could only feel the tree coming to life, the Survivors could _see _it. The plants roots had always been alive, but no one, not even Kiria and his now assimilated army, realized. The massive tree was _alive__,_ in every sense of the word. Its roars became more audible as it tore up concrete and earth. It was evident it was slowly pulling its hulking mass from the ground, but there was something more frightening Kiria soon realized. As the beastly tree groaned, as gaseous form spilled into the air. It was thick, grey and reeked of rotting plants. The white-haired demon's eyes widened at the realization.

The black skies, the putrid scent of plant and youki that had filled the airs of Kansai were a product of the demon plant!

"This is the price for your selfishness and greed." Tsukune placed his hand atop the witch's head. He looked directly at Kiria and before the ayashi could charge the human, the shadows surrounded him and engulfed his being. The massive plant, which had filled the skies of Kansai with dark, formless clouds came to life and pulled its roots from the ground to stand and tower over its protectors. The humans have worked to tend to the plant, those infected would tend to the plant's soils, and feed it the cursed souls of the unclean by sending he sinful its way. The ayashi and youkai fed it their powerful blood to help it wake from its slumber.

Survivors pressed their foreheads to the ground as hanabake continued to hiss and shriek. The massive plant let out a roar that carried throughout Kansai. The plumes of gas exhaled from its body erupted in exponential amounts and carried into the winds. Samhain had finished her duty to her master and turned to the massive plant. She huffed out in indignation and slithered back toward the place she called home. She had but one more task to her master and she would do well to please him. His enemies would die by her power, so that he would no longer sin. The Helian felt her skin inhale the pollen and shivered. It was always a strange scent to her, something she tried not to taste as it left a bitter flavor in her stomach.

With a fierce roar of power Kiria cut his scythe across the air and rend the shadows to shreds. He had settled himself on the solid ground. The vines had parted and left the remnants of concrete which were held together with the interconnected vines from the mighty plant. The shadows dissipated with a pain-filled shriek. The ayashi's white hair danced against his youki, as the grand demonic aura that seemed to surround him grew closer. It was not the plant that released the youki but the form before him. Kiria felt his body forced back by its approach. The figure held such beauty, but scars and mismatched body parts gave it a disfigured form that transcended the horrors he has seen throughout his time on this planet.

They had created a life.

Ruby had settled herself beside Tsukune and laid her head upon his shoulder. The young human wrapped his arm around her shoulder and brushed his fingers through her onyx hair. He seemed unconcerned. The human...a human: he was not. Kiria could only watch as this feminine figure approached him. It looked as if her skin had been pulled back to fit her skeletal structure. The tones shifted between dark brown to grey. She had long silver-white hair and a purple tail that curled up against her body. Her head was held high and her hand sat settled on her hip. He could feel no _life_ energy within this monstrosity of magic. It lived by the fuel of pure youki that pumped visibly through the veins of this necrotic corpse.

In some areas bits of flesh barely stayed latched to muscle and muscles pulsating with youki could be seem contracting between the frames of bone. The eyes were a mismatched green and violet and her neck was visibly sewn together. Her body's nude flesh was stretched back and tightly bound down the spine by large stitching that obviously took a great deal of time to settle and had taken the hardness of the leather it had become. She was sewn shut from between her legs and down her inner thighs where her ankles seemed to be attached with nothing more than bound skin. Her breasts were misshapen and one visibly leaked with the embalming fluids the witch had used to preserve the corpse.

The living shell looked to the king of demon plants. He tipped his head in open permission. "Kill him." His words were decisive, something he had never been able to do in his former life. This was something he was sure that was necessary.

Before Kiria could act, the corpse was upon him. Lightning traveled through the clouds, and arched against the force of her attack. Tsukune sat and pulled Ruby against his body to keep the warmth between them, as the living corpse fed on her prey as it struggled and fought to tear free of the paralyzing youki and raw strength. Kiria shifted his other hand into a scythe blade, but the fetid body slammed his arms and pinned them down. Its body easily weighed the demon down with raw power. Opening its mouth the undead form revealed rows of deadly teeth. It inhaled and pulled back, the skin across its face stretched to its limit. The fiend lunged forward and sunk its fangs into the ayashi's neck.

"You worked hard to give Samhain a new body, she looks happy." He smiled as the nude form of the corpse tore the ayashi apart, ripping out muscle and tearing off skin as he screamed his throat sore. Ruby frowned and turned from Tsukune, but he looked to her with worry, was something wrong?

"I'm sorry Tsukune-san, but it isn't perfect. I have tried my hardest but until I can read the ancient text in my master's book I cannot properly transmutate a truly perfect body, but I will try my hardest, I swear." She looked up to her lover with determination.

Tsukune smiled and gently pulled her forward to kiss her forehead. He glanced over as the corpse stood crouched over the shredded remains of her master's enemies. Red vines penetrated the skin of the body and fed youki into it as the demon plant herself seemed to lifelessly hang upside-down from an overhanging root.

She would have a true body soon, without the witch. Samhain looked over to her master as he calmly rested. She would soon be allowed to lay at his side as such without the awkward presence of her non-human form. If she had to destroy this world, she would gain the power to be with him _forever. _Samhain watched from the eyes of her lifeless corpse, which she used to draw the youki and blood from Kiria. She watched her master, and the smile on his face as the grand tree, that stood as their only home, rise and walk upon the land.


	18. Epilogue of Hallow's Eve

**Chapter 18: Epilogue of Hallow's Eve**

For nearly a year this poison has lifted into the skies, and spread by the trade winds across all of Nippon and all of the world. By the time those realized, it was too late. Across the Pacific seas Island Nations were the first to suffer affects. Hanabake of various forms and sizes would appear on these isolated lands, with their prey no longer being solely human it was easy to disregard the appearance of more tropical plants among the island forests. The spores infected the living, and when the living died their bodies became food for the seeds which would than consume the corpse like a fungus and take control of the body which it would alter to its needs and its surroundings. When hanabake were sighted in the Industrialized nations, chaos descended upon the world.

It was a Firestorm. The man-eating plants were not isolated to island nations. They were like a virus, even when the Global Organizations turned their backs and closed their ports to Japan they quickly found out they were not a lone country, nation, monarchy, or party, but a world that shared the same skies, the same waters and same earth. Borders that separated the world nations fell as groups sought refuge in territories yet infested. Many struggled to keep certain groups segregated to prevent cross infections between important figureheads, and those with money hoarded their fortunes to rebuild in the aftermath, but it all meant nothing.

Both the important and insignificant would become infected. Race, status, intelligence, health, age: it did not matter. The infection affected humans, while rumors spread of the hanabake consuming any creature that would eat tainted humans which put the youkai in their place. Money became useless, the only thing prized was the ability to survive.

The Hades Lords, the three that had long fought to make the world what it was, could only watch as the King of Flowers had overturned their thousand year struggle in but a single year. They had safeguarded human and youkai. They had created institutions to prevent wars and systematically unify the groups in secrecy, but not only has the Ouhana revealed demons to the world, he had destroyed nearly a quarter of the overall human population and restored life to infertile lands that have long since been raped by man. They had to stop the Ouhana. Though his actions created a frightening unity among the human and youkai, it was a system created by fear and death. If this continued the hanabake would be unstoppable.

The old mikogami sat among his allies in conference. "_If this continues a greater power, the likes of which has not been seen for a thousand years will once again arise." _The old man spoke solemnly as another figure stood silently by the windows, smoking a cigar as those seated at the table listened. "_The seal has been broken and the four Grand Barriers are crumbling, their powers have been absorbed by hanabake roots which have rooted across dimensions."_

"But it is not the Kansai Demon Plant, it has uprooted itself and still resides in its territory." One member claimed as he sat squat in his seat. His legs were pulled under him and he wrapped his lips over the end of his smoking pipe. His sunglasses lay atop his wrinkled skin and concealed his narrowed eyes. His long hair flowed over his tipped ears and his robs loosely wrapped around his body.

Mikogami nodded. "_This is true, but I fear that when the seal was broken all of the power freed itself. Fuhai, can you make another seal?"_

The old man that sat to Mikogami's side sighed deeply. "You understand that, though I cannot stand by while this power is unleashed onto the world again, there is nothing we can do so long as all suffer..."

Another stood, face sunken in a twist of despair. "Than will we watch our world crumble and reform in the hands of this madman?"

Mikogami was silent, but a deep chuckle rolled from the blue-suited male that stood by the window. Eyes turned to the man as he exhaled a plume of smoke into the night sky.

"_**Nothing we can do but watch, whatever fate this boy holds it will be interesting to see, heh heh heh, wouldn't you say old friend?"**_ He shifted an eye toward Mikogami who lowered his head.

"_We can only watch for now and see the role he plays. He has grown too powerful for us while humans and demons still stand apart. They all must work together for these tragedies to see an end_." The robed man sighed with regret.

The world lay at the mercy of the hanabake. The Ouhana became known throughout Japan, the outside world knowing him only as bane on life. There would always be those who would be unable to bow their heads to the false god and there would always be those to turn from his authority, but the hanabake ruled and no power seemed to match the faceless king of the flowers. His serene title did not compliment the true power of his merciless judgement. The world would change, so no others suffered painfully at the hands of another. He was the Blood Stained Saint, the man that would rain cruel words on those who dared to sin, but he was never the one to offer punishment or chances to repent. He had never taken a life and would soon grant many new lives to the world he held wrapped in his cloak.

This Hallow's Eve became known as the Second Judgement of the Ouhana of Japan. He was the judge, his followers stood as jury, and the hanabake were his executioners.

* * *

_Follow me and look to your fellow man._

These are the words of the Ouhana.

_Regret the wrong of your past._

He only wishes for us to repent.

_I too suffer, so you are not alone._

He is always by our side.

_Become a student, and learn from the past._

Just as I, Kaneshiro Hokuto.

_Take your brother's hand and step into the darkness._

Together.

_Hand in hand._

_**My disciple.**_

_**Perishable Wings: Disciple of Dissent**_


End file.
